Trump's promised immigration raids hit Colorado cities
DENVER ‒ Federal agents detained people in Denver and neighboring Aurora early Wednesday morning, breaking down doors and questioning bleary-eyed residents as they searched for more than 100 reported Venezuelan gang members.
The high-profile operation appeared to be one of the largest targeted raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since President Donald Trump took office on a promise to deport immigrants with criminal records. Trump months ago vowed to launch the deportation effort "Operation Aurora" upon taking office.
"As long there bad guys in the streets, we're going to be out here arresting them and making sure we're keeping these communities safe," U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Caleb Vitello said in a video press release from an apartment complex raided on Wednesday morning.
It was not immediately clear how many people were apprehended but an immigrant-rights group said they tracked five detentions. It was the second federal raid on Denver-area residents identified as Tren de Aragua gang members in a week, according to authorities.
Singling out the Denver area
Fernando Martinez, 54, said he was sleeping off a hangover at a friend's apartment in the Cedar Run Apartments in Denver when police began banging on the door. He said he didn't have a chance to get up before they broke in.
"They come in with their guns drawn,” said Martinez, who was not arrested. "They flash-banged me like three times," referring to disorientation devices commonly used by police.
ICE Denver’s Enforcement and Removal Operations team in a statement said it was targeting Tren de Aragua members but did not immediately release the names of those arrested or provide any other specifics. Media reports said at least seven Denver-area locations were targeted, including an apartment complex singled out by Trump on the campaign trail.
Federal officials had previously established a command and logistics center at nearby Buckley Space Force base.
Trump has repeatedly singled out Denver and Aurora for being too welcoming to people living illegally in the United States. Immigration authorities had reportedly planned to conduct widespread raids in the area last week, but they canceled them following publicity.
Colorado state law prohibits local police from participating in most types of immigration-related enforcement actions, and there was no sign that either Denver or Aurora police participated on Wednesday. Officials from both cities said they were monitoring the raids
Trump and other top immigration-enforcement officials have demanded that local law enforcement do more to help.
"Unfortunately we have to come to the communities because we don't get the cooperation that we need from the jails," Vitello said in his video statement. "But if we have to come out in the community to do this, that's what we’re going to do."
Targeting gang members
Trump and other members of his administration have often described Tren de Aragua as a violent, dangerous gang that is taking over cities across the country.
But law enforcement officials speaking with Paste BN late last year described a group whose ranks in the U.S. are thin and whose activities – mostly petty crimes, often targeting other migrants – pale in comparison to other, more established gangs operating in the United States.
Last week, federal authorities led by the DEA raided a "makeshift nightclub" in Denver frequented by suspected Tren de Aragua gang members. Authorities arrested 49 people, seized drugs and a "large amount" of U.S. currency, according to the DEA. ICE determined at least 41 of those arrested were present in the country illegally.
On Wednesday, several dozen ICE agents in body armor and carrying pepper spray and guns were staged after the raids in a Best Buy parking lot near central Denver, along with two large passenger buses with bars on the windows and three other armored vehicles.
Shortly before 11:30 a.m., a group of the ICE agents left the staging area and walked across the street to a convenience store. The two buses with bars on the windows left the area empty.
Rabbi Rachel Kobrim, 51, visited the Cedar Run after the morning raids, talking to residents to show her support for their presence.
“I pray this will stop and that people will come out and stand up for their neighbors and their children’s classmates and the folks they work with and the people who work in fields and work in our stores,” said Kobrim, who leads nearby Congregation Rodef Shalom.
Sweeping up as many immigrants as possible
Raquel Lane-Arellano of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, which sent “rapid-response” volunteers to the scene to monitor the raids, said more than 100 agents from ICE, DEA and ATF showed up to the Cedar Run Apartments and began knocking on doors and asking people their immigration status.
When asked by the advocates at the scene for judicial warrants, the agents would not produce any, she said.
Lane-Arellano said around five people were detained and driven away by the agents.
She said she didn’t believe the agents were targeting Tren de Aragua members, just sweeping up as many undocumented immigrants as possible.
“It’s a farce,” Lane-Arellano said. “They are clearly targeting anyone who doesn’t have any documentation regardless of whether they have criminal backgrounds. They’re trying to intimidate and scare the community.”
'They said they were looking for drugs'
Martinez said he and his friends were briefly detained while investigators searched the small apartment.
"They said there were looking for drugs,” Martinez said. “There was no drugs in there but there were a lot of beer cans."
Martinez, who said he previously lived in the complex, said he didn’t know anyone arrested Wednesday.
Reporters quickly fanned out across the Cedar Run complex to interview residents after federal officials left, talking to some workers as they loaded their cars with housecleaning supplies.
Cedar Run is a 384-unit complex where rents for one-bedroom apartments start about $1,090 monthly. Wednesday morning, many residents hung over their balconies to watch the situation unfolding, dogs barking at all the strangers. A number of Cedar Run residents told a Paste BN reporter that they only speak Spanish.
Martinez and several other residents said they have witnessed several crimes at the complex, including drug overdoses.
In a statement, the investment group that owns Cedar Run said it was approached by Denver city officials about 18 months ago to house people during a sharp increase in arrivals.
The city paid rent for a number of people for several months, Gelt Venture Partners said in the statement, but "our attempt to help the city has resulted in numerous challenges, including suspected gang activity, unpaid rent and widespread significant damage throughout our complex."
The company said it complies with legal government orders and hoped to find a solution.
"The ongoing challenges on the property stem from a few problematic residents, creating a frustrating cycle where our attempts to mitigate issues are repeatedly undermined by damage and mistreatment," the company said. "We want to assure the community that we are complying with all legal government orders while also respecting the privacy of those who call our community home."
Contributing: Lauren Villagran, Paste BN
(This story has been updated to add new information.)