ICE raids hit apartment buildings in Aurora, Denver; feds say they’re targeting Tren de Aragua gang

Agents from multiple federal agencies conducted immigration raids in Denver and Aurora on Wednesday morning, with early reports and video showing agents going door-to-door and throwing what appears to be flashing smoke grenades.

A video posted by the Rocky Mountain division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration shows agents outside an apartment building to serve a warrant as part of what DEA officials said was a U.S. Department of Homeland Security operation.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Denver office said on social media that it was working with the FBI, DEA, Customs and Border Protection, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Marshals Service to search for more than 100 members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua in Aurora.

Officials did not say how many of those gang members they located.

“We’re here today to conduct an at-large enforcement operation looking for Tren de Aragua, the gang members here from Venezuela,” an unnamed ICE spokesperson said in a video shared on social media. “Unfortunately, we have to come to the communities because we don’t get the cooperation we need from the jails. It would be so much easier and so much safer for our officers and agents if we could take these people into custody from a safe environment, but if we have to come out into the community to do this, that’s what we’re gonna do.”

Agents were reported at the Edge of Lowry, Whispering Pines and Cedar Run apartment complexes on Wednesday morning.

At Cedar Run, at 888 S Oneida St. in Denver, agents from the FBI, ICE and Homeland Security Investigations were on scene Wednesday morning. People were being apprehended and loaded onto a bus.

Across the fence, a woman was shouting into a megaphone about people’s rights in both English and Spanish.

Hannah Strickline, a resident of Cedar Run Apartments, said she woke up to texts that police were going door to door across the complex. A few minutes later, she heard a knock on her door.

She opened it to find “six heavily armed officers demanding ID.”

After she provided her identification, they asked which of her neighbors might be undocumented.

“It’s insulting and infuriating because I would never snitch on my neighbors,” she said. “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.”

Strickline has lived in the complex for 14 years and said there was a steep drop in quality of the units when new ownership took over in 2019. Now, conditions are practically unlivable, she said, with mold, pest infestations, lack of hot water and lack of heat. “I feel like that is part of the reason why we’ve ended up here today,” she said.

Strickline said the apartment complex is about 70% Spanish-speaking residents, mostly families with young kids.

“They work, they come home, they have kids who play,” she said.

On Wednesday, a small crowd had gathered at the entrance of the apartment complex by about 9 a.m. As federal officers worked across the street, some in the crowd chanted in protest. Some residents stood on their balconies, cellphones in hand, watching as the officers worked. Others stood on the sidewalk, unable to get back into their units. One man complained about just finishing a 12-hour shift at work, and now being unable to get home.

“People are scared,” Strickline said. “And people who aren’t even undocumented are scared. We have dozens of armed officers banging on all doors, like we are all criminals. And no one wants that in their homes.”

Ali Shihab, who owns a business that abuts the apartment complex, said the area has recently become dangerous.

“It got out of control in this area, to be honest,” he said. “Shootings, prostitution.”

Shihab immigrated legally to the U.S. from Iraq more than a decade ago.

“I hate seeing this,” he said. ” But it was chaos.”

Shihab said his business’ surveillance video showed federal officers at the apartment complex as early as midnight.

In Aurora, the Edge of Lowry, at 1218 Dallas St., entered the international spotlight last year after a video of six heavily armed men forcing their way into multiple apartment units went viral.

In December, a Tren de Aragua gang-related home invasion and violent kidnapping at the apartment complex led to the arrest of 16 people on immigration violations and other charges. Aurora officials said two apartment residents were taken against their will to a vacant unit and were bound, pistol-whipped, threatened and tortured for hours.

Authorities arrived at the Edge of Lowry at about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday and were banging on apartment doors trying to get people to open them to talk, said Yamid Rey, a resident, in Spanish. He said he saw many ICE officers, and they closed down the street.

He said that only his family left the building. Nobody else did. Agents appeared to mark doors where nobody answered with tape, he said.

“People are afraid to leave. They’re afraid to be outside,” Rey said.

The complex has many residents who are recent immigrants. Often, he said, they have visas or other authorization allowing them to work. He said he wasn’t sure if any have criminal records.

“But they’re afraid to be taken away by immigration, so they’re not opening their doors,” Rey said.

Jannet Valenzuela, the stepdaughter of a man who was swept up in the raids, stood near the Whispering Pines apartments, located a few blocks from the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus, at East 13th Avenue and Helena Street, at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

She said she received a call around 6:30 a.m. from her mom, who heard from her stepfather that immigration officials had arrived.

“He was scared, so he hid on the roof,” Valenzuela said. She saw several men up on the roof before they were taken into custody. A video shared with The Denver Post by a witness showed five standing on the roof at one point while authorities were in the parking lot below.

A person stood on the sidewalk outside Whispering Pines holding a stack of flyers with “Know Your Rights” information.

Another apartment complex reportedly hit Wednesday morning at 1568 Nome St. was closed in August after Aurora officials determined it was uninhabitable.

Major U.S. cities, including the Denver area, have been bracing for raids by ICE agents since President Donald Trump returned to office on Jan. 20. Because of his campaign promise to target Aurora’s migrant community through “Operation Aurora,” the city was expected to be among the earliest targets to arrest immigrants without legal status.

But in recent days, ICE plans still appeared to be in flux. NBC News first reported that raids could occur in Aurora last Thursday morning, but a follow-up report said enforcement actions had been postponed because of media leaks.

The news of immigration raids Wednesday morning broadly seemed to take many — even elected officials and lawyers — by surprise. Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky said she wasn’t aware of any raids as of around 8:20 a.m. Ashley Cuber, an immigration attorney, also hadn’t heard word until The Denver Post reached out.

Representatives of organizations supporting immigrants in Colorado and Democratic state legislators were quick to speak out against the federal raids.

“We as a Latino service provider categorically condemn these raids that are intended to sow fear, division, pain and suffering among our communities,” said Rudy Gonzales, president and CEO of Denver’s Servicios de la Raza.

Andrea Loya, executive director of Casa de Paz, said Wednesday’s immigration enforcement was “instilling fear in our communities.”

“What I know from people on the ground is that there appear to be no warrants and again another instance of collaboration with agencies,” she said. “This isn’t making anyone safer.”

Colorado Senate President James Coleman, a Denver Democrat, said the party’s caucus has been educating its members about what resources are available to their communities and how they might help local officials. He also noted a planned rally at the Capitol on Wednesday in response to the Trump administration, including its stepping up of immigration sweeps.

“I am horrified to see this approach,” said House Speaker Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat. “Our immigrant community is critical, not just to the health of thriving communities but to our workforce in this state. I am deeply worried about families being torn apart.”

Over the last few weeks, immigration officials have ramped up their efforts across the country.

So far, states with publicized actions include Ohio, Georgia, Illinois, Arizona, California, Florida, Texas, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey. Some reports depicted large-scale enforcement efforts, although others included individual arrests that appear to be in line with past ICE operations.

They appeared to take place at workplaces, residences and other sites, and some actions aimed primarily at arresting immigrants with criminal backgrounds. But at times, ICE has been detaining others they encountered in the course of such operations.

On Jan. 26 in Adams County, authorities arrested or detained 41 people, including some they said were associates of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, at a party taking place in a vacant warehouse off North Federal Boulevard. Officials said a monthslong investigation resulted in the operation.

The military’s U.S. Northern Command also said last week that it would allow ICE to use Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora as a site to process and temporarily hold detainees, but U.S. Rep. Jason Crow walked back that claim on Monday.

The Aurora Democrat said Buckley “is being used for Homeland Security operations, for ICE operations — that there is a footprint of federal law enforcement operating out of this facility,” but current plans for the base don’t include housing immigrants or detainees. It will mainly operate as a staging location for law enforcement and coordination center for ongoing operations, he said.

Immigration advocates at Casa de Paz — a group that visits immigrants at a separate ICE detention center in Aurora and provides aid upon their release — also noticed preparations were recently being made at that facility for new arrivals.

Loya said before the new ICE raid began that people had been released from the detention center — an occurrence that hadn’t taken place in a couple of years, she noted. It signaled to her that the facility was potentially making room for incoming detainees.

“This will not stop people seeking asylum,” Loya said.

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