U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids were underway in Aurora and metro Denver 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 say is a U.S. Department of Homeland Security operation.
Early reports said agents were at the Edge of Lowry, Whispering Pines and Cedar Run apartment complexes.
At the Cedar Run complex, 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.
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, lack of hot water and lack of heat.
Strickland 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.
In Aurora, the Edge of Lowry 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.
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 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.”
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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