DENVER — On Thursday, the new administration's border czar, Tom Homan, appeared on national news programs blaming news media leaks for hindering a large-scale law enforcement operation in the Denver metro on Wednesday.
On Friday, ABC News reported 29 people were detained during the large-scale operation earlier in the week.
However, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been targeting more than 100 members of the Tren De Aragua gang during the week's raids, with only one confirmed gang member arrest.
After the raids started on Wednesday morning, it took little to no time for advocates and protesters to show up at the various locations.
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V Reeves, an organizer with Housekeys Action Network Denver, told Denver7 they were at the Edge of Lowry apartment complex in Aurora when the raid began. They said they'd been staying over at an immigrant family's unit "on and off" for days, not because of a "leak", but because they had a suspicion a raid was coming.
"We didn't have an exact date, an exact time when it could happen, and when it did happen. I was inside the unit with the family," Reeves said. "The children were still sleeping less than 10 feet from the door when around 20 or so different federal agents came knocking in fully armed gear, with a battery ram with them, and all kinds of weapons on hand, knocking at the door and waking his family up at 6 a.m."
Crystal Villa, who lives at the Cedar Run Apartment complex less than five miles away in Denver, said she was awoken by loud bangs at her door. She told Denver7 no one told her what was coming, but she immediately knew what was happening.
"It's not a surprise, of course, because we all knew it was gonna happen," Villa said. "I just didn't think right now, right here, of course, but running through my mind, I mean, when I answered, I wasn't even thinking."
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When asked how advocates and protesters knew where to go during the raids, Villa told Denver7 there was a simple answer to how some ended up at Cedar Run.
"I called the Colorado Rapids Response," she said. "I just heard them telling them, 'you know, don't answer the door. You guys have rights,' you know? Stuff like that in English, Spanish and French."
While Villa sees those interactions as helpful, not everyone agrees. Jon Caldara, the president of the Independence Institute, a conservative think tank, said he has his own questions.
"To see protesters out saying we shouldn't be enforcing our laws, I wonder where were the protesters over the last four years, when the floodgates were open and 11 million undocumented people came into this country," he said.
He said what we saw this week should be a surprise to no one.
"Why people are upset when the federal government is finally doing its job? I just don't understand," he added.
Though when it comes to "leaks", both Villa and Reeves point to preparedness and community.
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