DEA Announces Dozens Arrested in Colorado Raid Targeting Venezuelan Gang

The DEA said that about 49 illegal immigrants were arrested, connected with the Tren de Aragua gang.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has said it arrested dozens of people during a recent raid in Colorado that targeted the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.

The DEA’s Rocky Mountain division, in a post on Sunday night, said its agents, along with federal and local officials, “conducted an early morning operation at a makeshift nightclub in Adams County,” outside of Denver.

Drugs, weapons, and cash were seized in the raid, and 49 illegal immigrants were taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) officials in Denver. In a separate post, the DEA division said that more than 100 law enforcement officials were involved, no shots were fired, and no one was injured.

“Many are connected with the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang from Venezuela,” said the DEA, which included video footage of agents making arrests alongside individuals in handcuffs. Other footage included a bus taking away “nearly 50 illegal aliens” after the raid, according to the agency.

During the 2024 election campaign, Tren de Aragua became a talking point after President Donald Trump highlighted that members of the gang had taken over buildings and areas in places across Colorado, particularly the Aurora area.

Trump visited Aurora and told a crowd that he believes it “has been invaded and conquered.”

“These towns have been conquered … and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them out of our country. And we will be very, very effective in doing it. It’s going to happen very, very fast,” he said in October of last year.

Some officials in the city pushed back against Trump’s claims about gangs taking over parts of the city.

At the same time, Trump pledged to deport criminal illegal immigrants from the United States.

The gang originated as a prison gang that was based in Aragua, Venezuela, but U.S. officials say it has quickly expanded across North and South America in recent years. The gang has partaken in human smuggling, drug trafficking, money laundering, and other criminal activity.

The raid outside Denver was made just days after Trump was sworn into office and after he issued a number of executive orders targeting illegal immigration. In one of his orders, Trump sought to designate Tren de Aragua, drug cartels, and MS-13 as foreign terrorist organizations, adding that he would declare an emergency to deal with those organizations.

“Their campaigns of violence and terror in the United States and internationally are extraordinarily violent, vicious, and similarly threaten the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere,” his order states.

Such orders, Trump has said, are needed after millions of people entered the United States under the Biden administration both illegally and under Biden’s temporary legal entry programs.

The Trump administration has also warned local officials in so-called sanctuary cities that they could face punitive action or even prosecution if they do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts. A memo released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) last week directed U.S. prosecutors to investigate officials who engaged in any alleged obstruction.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Offices and litigating components of the Department of Justice shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution, including for obstructing federal function” if they violate a law that bars committing an offense against or defrauding the federal government, it said.

Weeks before Trump took office, the mayor of Denver, Mike Johnston, said that he would be willing to go to jail to resist the Trump administration’s deportation efforts.

Trump border czar Tom Homan responded to the comment in a Fox News interview at the time, saying he would be “willing to put [Johnston] in jail” if he does not comply.

Reuters contributed to this report.