Multiple law enforcement agencies in the Denver area conducted “immigration enforcement efforts” targeting Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang members.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is leading early morning “immigration enforcement efforts” in Denver and Aurora, Colorado, this morning, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed to Fox News Digital.
Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Denver posted to X that “100+ members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua were targeted for arrest and detention in Aurora, Colo., today by ICE and its partners @FBI @DEAHQ @CBP @ATFHQ & @USMarshalsHQ in an ongoing investigation.”
It is unclear how many people were taken into custody.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Rocky Mountain Division not only confirmed to local KDVR that this was part of the operation that was expected to start in Aurora last week, but also posted a video just after 7 a.m. local time of agents conducting search warrant operations. In the video, one of the agents threw a device that appeared to emit some sort of smoke.
14 DETAINED IN ARMED AURORA, COLORADO HOME INVASION ARE LIKELY ILLEGAL GANG MEMBERS: POLICE
One of the locations targeted was the Cedar Run Apartments in the 800 block of South Oneida Street, DEA Rocky Mountain confirmed.
“We saw this message written on a wall inside the Cedar Run apartments in Denver,” DEA Rocky Mountain posted to X. “#DEA and our federal partners are targeting wanted drug traffickers. Three fentanyl deaths have been reported at this location in the past month.”
The post included a photograph of a message that read, “In loving memory of those lost in drug land.”
A Cedar Run resident who has lived in the complex for 14 years told The Denver Post that “six heavily armed officers” who demanded identification asked which of her neighbors might be undocumented.
“It’s insulting and infuriating because I would never snitch on my neighbors,” she told the newspaper. “They have every right to be here. And I would never want to put anyone through that sort of stress. They just don’t deserve that.”
ERO Denver posted on X that what they did Wednesday was “remove this very real public safety threat.”
“Time and again, criminal aliens prey on their own communities with sanctuary policies, knowing they’re free to commit crimes without repercussion,” the agency said.
Fox News’ Nicole Wright contributed to this report.
