AURORA, Colo. — Immigration and Customers Enforcement raids that were expected to take place this week have been delayed indefinitely.
Denver7 Investigates learned about the planned raids that were slated to start in the Denver area as early as Thursday. The development was reported by several media outlets, including by national television networks.
In anticipation of those, local advocates began working to assist immigrant families, with some of the efforts ramping up at one of the most infamous apartment complexes in Aurora — the Edge of Lowry apartments, which has been marred in controversy over claims that it had been "taken over" by a Venezuelan prison gang last summer.
The majority of the tenants who live at the Edge of Lowry apartments were placed in temporary shelter out of fear that ICE could show up any moment.
Jonathan Marcantoni, an advocate with Redress Movement, said families were taken to shelters, to try to give them more time to find a permanent place to live and find their footing.
But he said the looming fears about raids continue for many of these families.
"ICE decided to postpone their raids. Of course, we don't know how long that postponement will actually be," Marcantoni said. "That could very well still be today, it could be tomorrow, it could be a week from now. It's very unnerving for a lot of people, because it's just a lot of uncertainty."
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Maikol Vitriago, an immigrant from Venezuela who lives at the building said he was not concerned about the raids.
He told Denver7 that it's frustrating that all Venezuelans are getting painted in a bad light — when all he's done is follow a legal path to seeking asylum.
“I have all of my immigration paperwork, I have an asylum case, I’ve gone to three court hearings so far with a judge," he said, in Spanish.
Vitriago said many of his neighbors left Wednesday out of precaution.
“Many are afraid, they’ve gone through so much, crossed many countries for them to just be deported without being criminals — bad people, these are people who benefit the country," he added.
Marcantoni said it's important for people to understand why these families decided to leave everything behind in the first place.
"The fact of the matter is that when a government becomes authoritarian, when a government is targeting its citizens, like is happening in Venezuela under Maduro, like, your life is in danger," he said.
"The people who have asylum cases didn't come here because they wanted to leave their countries. They didn't come here because they no longer want any connection to their their culture, or the community that they grew up in. They would rather be in those places, but they can't," Marcantoni added.
Vitriago said he is focusing on finding a new place to live and some stability, since the apartment complex will be shut down in mid-February.
“I have this [paperwork] ready, so if they came to knock on my door, I’d just show them this, they can call the judge or do whatever they need to do," he said.
Marcantoni said he and others will continue to advocate for the community, regardless of their status.
"If you were in this situation, wouldn't you want to be taken seriously that there is a threat to your life and you need help? When that's the case, the last thing that you want is to be demonized, to be dehumanized, and especially when you don't want to be sent back, because you have a real, legit fear for leaving."
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