TdA targeted in large-scale federal operation across the Denver metro Wednesday: ICE | Denver7 Investigates

Get caught up on what we know:

• Several federal agencies were assisting the Department of Homeland Security with immigration enforcement operations at at least four Denver metro area locations, including the Edge of Lowry complex in Aurora. 
• The ICE Denver field office said “100+” members of Tren de Aragua were targeted in the operations, though it wasn’t immediately clear how many arrests were made
• The DEA said it was targeting drug traffickers in the Denver-area operations 
• Federal sources tell Denver7 Investigates they had obtained warrants for these operations
• Denver7 is on the ground across the metro, talking to federal officials and residents for a complete picture of what’s unfolding

Denver7 Investigates is tracking a large-scale federal law enforcement operation underway in the Denver metro early Wednesday. Suspected members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua were targeted in the operation, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Several federal agencies were assisting the Department of Homeland Security in the operation, which was taking place at several locations in Denver and Aurora, law enforcement sources told Denver7 Investigates.

Denver7 cameras were there as operations unfolded at the Cedar Run apartments near Quebec and Leetsdale in Denver. No information was immediately available about arrests, but Denver7 cameras saw people being taken from the complex in handcuffs while live on Denver7 News on Local3 just after 7 a.m.

Agents from Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and others were at the scene. Detainees were apparently being escorted to a bus parked outside the complex, according to Denver7 Investigator Natalie Chuck, who was first at the scene Wednesday.

She saw DEA agents going into the building yelling "We have a warrant" in full gear.

At one point, a school bus driver tried to drive into the parking lot to pick up students, but was not able to do so. Denver7's Natalie Chuck reported that there have been communications about getting students out of the apartment and to school, but details around that — and who exactly was involved in those conversations — were not clear and authorities were not allowing a lot of people in or out of the building.

A group of protesters have formed across the street and are using megaphones to communicate with residents. They are saying, "Do not open your doors" and "Do not answer their questions."

• We will carry updates from the Denver7 Investigates team as the operations unfold. Watch in the video player below or at the top of this story:

Denver7 Investigates has had their eyes on the Cedar Run apartments for months after tenants came forward with concerns about conditions. It was deemed a crime hotspot nine months ago by Denver's mayor, who promised resources to address the problem.

The DEA Rocky Mountain Division said there have been three fentanyl deaths at the complex in the last month.

Denver7 also learned an ICE operation took place at the now-infamous Edge of Lowry apartments in Aurora, one in a set of derelict properties that have been in the spotlight amid a months-long controversy over the presence of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua in the city. No further details were available on that operation as of 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations said "100+" suspected TdA members were the target of Wednesday's operation.

The Drug Enforcement Administration shared video on the social media site X of agents serving a search warrant at what Denver7 learned was a location in Aurora.

That post said the agency was supporting DHS operations "throughout the metro area."

Denver7 spoke with a couple residents at the Edge of Lowry on Wednesday morning over FaceTime. Jennifer Moreno, who lives there with her family, said they all gained asylum in mid-January and have the documents to prove such. Immigration officials were at her door on Wednesday morning.

“It’s scary — they pounded on our door hard,” she said. “They yelled for us to open the door.”

Her husband added that he needed to take their 12-year-old daughter to school, but officials told them to stay inside the apartment.

• Hear directly from the Edge of Lowry residents we spoke with on Wednesday morning as they say immigration officials were at their door.

Denver7 Chief Investigator Tony Kovaleski was at E. Colfax Avenue and Chambers Road — another scene — on Wednesday morning, when dozens of agents began working around an apartment complex.

FBI, DHS and DEA agents were all present, starting a bit after 7 a.m. After detaining a few people and carrying out small bags of unknown items, they left the scene a little before 8:30 a.m.

• Hear from our chief investigator about what unfolded at the complex at Colfax and Chambers in the video below.

The Wednesday morning operation is the latest of several federal law enforcement operations in the Denver metro. Most recently, a man with possible TdA ties was arrested Friday after allegedly committing drug and firearm-related crimes in Denver

Before that, six operations over a 100-hour span netted the arrests of at least three people with ties to high-profile Mexican drug cartels and multiple members and associates of Tren de Aragua – and Denver7 Investigates has covered it every step of the way.

In the early morning hours of Jan. 26, federal agents raided a vacant building in Adams County, arresting 49 people at what was billed as a Tren de Aragua invite-only party. At least 41 of those people were in the U.S. illegally.

The next day, two people with cartel connections were arrested and 130,000 fentanyl pills were seized during a bust in southeast Denver. Two days after that, on Jan. 29, the DEA conducted four separate operations in Aurora, Brighton, Lochbuie and Fort Lupton. A suspected TdA member was arrested at the Edge of Lowry complex and at least one person linked to the infamous Sinaloa cartel – the drug trafficking organization once led by Juan “El Chapo” Guzman – was nabbed at a home across the street from the Lochbuie police station.

“Listen, our foot is firmly on the gas. We have more work to do, and we're not done yet,” DEA Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen told Denver7 Investigates in a sitdown interview last week. “I think we're making the City of Denver a safer place by taking the most serious drug and violent offenders off the streets.”

• 'More to come': Watch Denver7 Investigates' sitdown interview with Jonathan Pullen in the video player below:

The DEA special agent in charge of the Lochbuie arrest last week, David Olesky, said the uptick in enforcement is due to a “renewed sense of purpose” at the agency under the Trump administration.

“We’re getting absolutely all the resources that we need not only at the federal level but at the local level as well,” he said. “And when it comes to immigration, that is just one of the tools in the toolbox that we’re going to be able to use to remove those violent criminals and drug traffickers from the communities.”