DENVER AP β Donald Trump's border czar on Thursday blamed news media leaks for hindering a large-scale operation in a Denver suburb the president has held up in his efforts to link violent crime with immigration. More than members of the Tren de Aragua gang were targeted Wednesday at apartment buildings and other sites in Denver and neighboring Aurora, according to U. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It was unclear how many people were arrested. Fox News, which was embedded with the operation, said 30 people were arrested, including at least one member of the Venezuelan gang.
It was not clear where they would have been sent since Venezuela has refused to accept its citizens back. ICE, which promoted the operation on social media shortly after it got underway, referred questions about the raids, including arrest totals, to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. Dozens of heavily armed officials from several federal agencies, many wearing masks and arriving in armored vehicles, swarmed locations across the Denver area in the daylong operation that had been anticipated since Trump took office.
They knocked down doors in at least one apartment building and provoked outrage among activists, who were on scene at some of the operations and taunted agents as they worked. Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, told reporters Thursday that details on the operation had been leaked, putting officers at risk. Media reports leading up to the raids said they were imminent. Their job is dangerous enough. So we are going to address this very seriously. Hannah Stickline said six heavily armed officers knocked on her door in Denver's Cedar Run apartments around 6 a.
Wednesday and demanded to see her identification. After she showed it, they asked which of her neighbors were in the country illegally. She refused to answer. He said a stun grenade landed at his feet before the agents threw him to the ground. He was not detained after showing identification. Three people have died because of fentanyl at the complex in the last month, the DEA said.
Trump's campaign promise of mass deportations has raised expectations of large-scale operations. ICE averaged arrests a day from Jan. ICE has stopped publishing daily arrests totals. Wednesday's operation included the largely empty apartment complex where the viral video was taken in August.
