At least 1 TdA member arrested in federal operation targeting the gang in metro Denver | 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.
• At least one "known" member of the gang was arrested.
• 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.

At least one "known member" of Tren de Aragua was arrested during a sweeping federal operation targeting the Venezuelan gang in the Denver metro Wednesday, Denver7 Investigates has learned.

Several federal agencies were assisting the Department of Homeland Security in the operation, which took place at at least eight locations in the Denver area, law enforcement sources told Denver7 Investigates.

One individual who was arrested is a man from Chile who was wanted for kidnapping and extortion in another country, according to Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Tim Lenzen.

Lenzen indicated there were more arrests but did not provide an exact number. Denver7 Chief Investigator Tony Kovaleski said there were at least a dozen arrests made across the eight metro-area operations.

"I won't measure the success in the number that we have," he said. "What I want to do is I want to measure the success in the impact that we have on the community. Our focus is public safety we are targeting those people that are threats to public safety."

Denver7 cameras were there as operations unfolded at the Cedar Run apartments near Quebec and Leetsdale in Denver. Our crew 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, ICE, 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. 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.

In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper said: “Reports that ICE was blocking school buses picking up kids and preventing families from leaving their homes are deeply troubling. We all want criminals off of our streets. Securing our border doesn’t require targeting children and families who have committed no crimes.”

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

• Watch the latest updates from the Denver7 Investigates team in the video player below or at the top of this story

The owner of the Cedar Run Apartments told Denver7 Investigates that issues began after the city "assigned" immigrants to live at the complex.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the property owners, Gelt Venture Partners, said they were "approached about 18 months ago by Denver officials to help with the immigration crisis."

"Through the city’s program, we were assigned a number of people to our apartment complex and paid for their move in fees and several months’ rent," the spokesperson wrote. "However, our attempt to help the city has resulted in numerous challenges, including suspected gang activity, unpaid rent and widespread, significant damage throughout our complex."

A spokesperson for the City of Denver denied these claims and said the city has been working to address crime in the area for 10 months.

Denver7 Investigates has been looking into the Cedar Run Apartments for weeks after tenants came forward with concerns about conditions at the complex and a lack of response from the landlord. 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.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said the city was not involved in the operations but was aware of the activity at Cedar Run.

"We are in contact with Denver Public Schools and other city partners, and have confirmed that there has not been any activity in schools, hospitals, or churches,” his statement read. “Denver Police and city authorities were not involved in these actions, nor were we given prior notice. We will continue to monitor these activities throughout the day.”

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 a 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 of 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 called Whispering Pines.

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.”