Denver metro area among next targets for stepped-up ICE arrests under Trump administration
CBS News has learned that the Denver metro area is among the next targets for the stepped-up immigration arrest operations that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been conducting under the Trump administration.
Since President Donald Trump took office, ICE operations have picked up across the country. The agency said it arrested nearly 1,200 people on Monday alone, up from previous days and from the Biden administration, which averaged 312 arrests per day last year.
Large ICE operations have been conducted in New York City and Chicago. Now the agency is expected to do the same in the Denver metro area, including Aurora, which the president frequently cited on the campaign trail when vowing to crack down on illegal immigration.
Trump promised to enact what he calls "Operation Aurora" in an October 2024 campaign rally at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center in Aurora. Aurora made national news in August 2024 when a video that went viral showed men carrying weapons and allegedly terrorizing residents at The Edge at Lowry apartments. The word that the criminal Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, had taken over apartment buildings made Aurora ground zero for the national debate over border security.
The apartment complex located at 12th Avenue and Dallas Street will close after a municipal judge in Colorado granted an emergency order earlier this month. The property has been deemed a criminal nuisance due to persistent violent incidents. The emergency order states the complex is an "immediate threat to public safety."
Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain previously said mismanagement has driven many of the issues plaguing the property, which include TdA gang activity and violent behavior.
Last month, more than a dozen suspects were detained in connection with an armed home invasion involving a stabbing and kidnapping at The Edge at Lowry apartments. Investigators with ICE told CBS News Colorado that all but three of the suspects detained are suspected members or associates of the TdA gang and all are Venezuelan nationals in the U.S. without authorization.
ICE confirmed that the suspects "will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings or hearings before an immigration judge" and that all of those detained are Venezuelan nationals in the U.S. without authorization.