Forty illegal immigrants are in federal custody after law enforcement officials raided a Colorado property frequented by members of the notorious Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.
A coalition of federal and local law enforcement agencies initially detained 49 people, 41 of whom were confirmed to be illegal immigrants, during a Sunday morning operation in Adams County.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials said the vacant lot where the suspects were detained had been converted into a “makeshift nightclub” that was “invitation-only to members of TdA and their associates.” The DEA has been tracking the gang’s partying for months in Adams County, which is located in the Denver metropolitan area.
The DEA, along with other federal agencies and over 100 local partners, seized drugs, weapons, and cash during the raid Sunday.
Forty illegal immigrants, many of whom the DEA said were connected to TdA, have been arrested and are being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“They ran all of the information while they were on scene and they determined, ICE determined, that they were here illegally or they had some other violation in the immigration system, and they detained and arrested them,” Jonathan Pullen, the special agent in charge for DEA Denver, told the Associated Press.
The raid came after DEA officials said TdA gang members sent invitations over social media to attend a party at the “nightclub” venue Saturday evening.
Pullen said Monday that he believed more members of the Venezuelan criminal ring are moving to the Denver area to get away from the national spotlight in Aurora, another Colorado city that gained attention last fall for TdA violence in local apartment complexes.
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“In the beginning, I think a lot of the focus was on the folks in Aurora, especially after the videos that came out on the internet, but I think what we’ve seen is that, like any criminal organization, they morph,” the DEA special agent said during a Fox News interview. “When they feel like there is pressure against them so they move to Denver, they move to Littleton, they move to wherever they feel like they can get away from where the pressure is, and so I think that’s what we’ve seen here. … I’m not saying they’re not in Aurora, but I think they’ve moved around to other places to take some of the heat off of other places.”
The latest arrests of TdA affiliates follow efforts by the Trump administration to deport people who entered the country illegally and have committed crimes. TdA members were among the people ICE arrested during recent operations in Texas, Chicago, and Nashville, Tennessee.
