AURORA | Rocky Mountain region Drug Enforcement Agency officials said they arrested approximately 50 immigrants early Sunday at a “makeshift nightclub” party in Adams County, stating at the time that all of them were “illegal aliens,” and “dozens” were members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua prison gang.
DEA officials said the raid came after months of investigation and was not part of a new direction in enforcement dictated by the Trump administration.
DEA agents, working with unnamed local police officials, ATF agents and Homeland Security officials said the gathering was an “invite-only” event, and that guns and illegal drugs were confiscated during the arrest, according to the social media post.
All of the suspects were loaded onto a bus and taken to the GEO ICE detention facility in Aurora, DEA officials said.
The raid on the vacant building on the 6600 block of Federal Boulevard, just north of Denver, was carried out about 5 a.m. Photos and video of the arrests show agents and suspects in a dark, snow-covered parking lot.
“This was invite-only — dozens connected to the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang were there,” DEA officials said in a post on X social media Sunday morning.
Agents seized drugs including cocaine, multiple handguns and cash, agents said later in a release, adding that the investigation started under the Biden administration and is continuing under the Trump administration.
DEA officials said in a press statement that 41 of 49 arrested appeared to be undocumented immigrants, according to reporting by The Associated Press.
“TdA affiliated gang members and associates sent out invitations over social media to come to a party at this location,” 7News in Denver reported.
The DEA and ICE have been cooperating for decades and there was nothing new about the two agencies coordinating, officials said.
Jonathan Pullen, special agent in charge for the DEA Rocky Mountain field division, said about 100 agents and officers, including from the DEA, ICE, ATF and Homeland Security Investigations, carried out a federal search warrant for drug trafficking around 5 a.m. while the party was still going on.
Pullen said that as of Sunday afternoon, about 40 people remained in ICE custody.
“They ran all of the information while they were on scene and they determined, ICE determined, that they were here illegally or they had some other violation in the immigration system, and they detained and arrested them,” Pullen said.
A “handful” of U.S. citizens were also at the site, Pullen said.
A Trump executive order paves the way for criminal organizations such as Tren de Aragua to be named “foreign terrorist organizations.”
Armed men linked to the Venezuelan gang were caught on video entering an Aurora apartment complex unit last summer in footage that drew Trump’s attention during the presidential campaign.
Thank goodness that the orange orangutan can claim he cleaned up the 2 dozen TDA members that were occupying Aurora and changing life as we knew it. Now I can get to the grocery store and then the ballot box to vote against Jurinski! Hey, I don’t want to have gang-member immigrants in the metro Denver area, but getting hysterical about it is stupid. WE HAD A BIPARTISAN IMMIGRATION REFORM DEAL DONE, BUT TRUMP KILLED IT DURING HIS CAMPAIGN – HE NEEDED AN ISSUE!
Sorry our gang member buddies got clapped, Kane. Maybe you should start cleaning your own toilet and mowing your own lawn.
That “bipartisan agreement” was not, in fact, bipartisan, and was killed on its merits, not by Trump, despite your side’s repeated lie.
The author’s first sentence “arrested approximately 50 immigrants early Sunday at a “makeshift nightclub”. Again, the Sentinel’s bad reporting, why transpose what’s on the DEA report? “Nearly 50 illegal aliens were taken into custody” You absolutely have an agenda; you just can’t report the news as accurate journalist. You always have to change the narrative, you can’t help yourself.
A few things were learned here for public officials to learn. First, Governor Polis, this raid taking in over forty TDR gangsters was not a figment of anyone’s imagination. Take note Gov. Polis, “Operation Aurora” will start to fix things you have had no clue of what is going on. The cat is out of the bag Gov.
Second, it’s a good thing Aurora Code enforcement was not involved. This illegal night club business shut down would have gone on for five years