Wednesday’s raids build on an intensified crackdown against Tren de Aragua.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched a sweeping crackdown in Aurora, Colorado, on Wednesday, arresting dozens of illegal immigrant members of the violent transnational gang Tren de Aragua, which had seized multiple apartment buildings and terrorized local residents.
ICE said in a Feb. 5
post on social media that the Aurora operation targeted more than 100 members of the Tren de Aragua gang for arrest and detention.
“As long as there are bad guys in the streets, we’re going to be out here arresting them and making sure we’re keeping these communities safe,”
said ICE Acting Director Caleb Vitello, speaking from one of the apartment complexes raided during the operation.
The raid, which was conducted in partnership with the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and other agencies, marks the latest in a series of aggressive federal actions against Tren de Aragua members operating unlawfully in the United States.
Last year, information emerged that members of the Tren de Aragua gang—which originated in Venezuelan prisons—
had taken over multiple apartment buildings in Aurora, a Denver-area suburb, and terrorized local residents with threats of murder, intimidation, and beatings. Authorities also accused the gang of extortion, illegal firearm possession, and sexual abuse of minors, often preying on vulnerable Venezuelan and other immigrant communities.
Amid public outrage over the gang’s brazen activities, President Donald Trump
vowed to launch “Operation Aurora” to dismantle Tren de Aragua—along with every “migrant criminal network operating on American soil.”
“We will send elite squads of ICE, Border Patrol, and federal law enforcement officers to hunt down, arrest, and deport every last illegal alien gang member until there is not a single one left in this country,” Trump said during an October 2024 rally in Aurora.
Wednesday’s raids build on an intensified crackdown against Tren de Aragua. Between Jan. 21 and Feb. 3, ICE arrested 194 members of the gang across the country, all of whom were in the United States illegally, according to the White House.
“President Donald Trump told the American people he’d arrest and deport members of the brutal Tren de Aragua gang, and he’s doing just that,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “Illegal immigrant criminal gangs like Tren de Aragua will no longer be able to terrorize American communities under President Trump’s leadership.”
Leavitt added that all of the illegal immigrant Tren de Aragua gang members would be deported. The Pentagon
said on Feb. 5 that the first military flight carrying 10 “high-threat” members of the Venezuelan gang had been transferred to Guantanamo Bay after Trump ordered the facility to be prepared to house up to 30,000 illegal immigrants.
The Guantanamo Bay military prison was created in 2002 under President George W. Bush to detain foreign suspects linked to terrorism after the 9/11 attacks.
Michael Banks, chief of U.S. Border Patrol,
told Fox News on Feb. 6 that there’s been a nearly 90 percent reduction in illegal border crossings since Trump took office and that criminal prosecutions of those apprehended are up almost 52 percent.
