US border czar blames leaks for hindering immigration raids in Colorado suburb spotlighted by Trump

DENVER (AP) - 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 100 members of the Tren de Aragua gang were targeted Wednesday at apartment buildings and other sites in Denver and neighboring Aurora, according to U.S. 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. But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said more than 100 members of Tren de Aragua were deported from Colorado on Wednesday.

It was not clear where they would have been sent since Venezuela has refused to accept its citizens back. The Defense Department said Wednesday that 10 people sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were Tren de Aragua members.

ICE, which promoted the operation on social media, referred questions 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.

"This isn't a game,” Homan said.

"We know that TDA is dangerous," he added, referring to the Venezuelan gang. "Everybody can agree to that, but when they get a heads-up that we are coming, it's only a matter of time before our officers are ambushed. Their job is dangerous enough. So we are going to address this very seriously."

While campaigning in Aurora last year, Trump said he would target migrant gangs nationally, calling it "Operation Aurora" after a widely circulated video showed some armed members of Tren de Aragua entering an apartment in the city of 400,000 people shortly before a fatal shooting outside.

Hannah Stickline said six heavily armed officers knocked on her door in Denver’s Cedar Run apartments around 6 a.m. 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.

"It's insulting and it's infuriating because I would never snitch on my neighbors," she said.

Fernando Martinez, who stayed the night at a friend's apartment in the complex, said DEA agents knocked on their door and then used a battering ram to open it. He said a stun grenade landed at his feet before the agents threw him to the ground. He was not detained after showing identification.

Trump’s campaign promise of mass deportations has raised expectations of large-scale operations. ICE averaged 787 arrests a day from Jan. 23 to Jan. 31, compared to a daily average of 311 during a 12-month period ended Sept. 30 during the Biden administration. ICE has stopped publishing daily arrests totals.

Homan, who was in Colorado for the operation on Wednesday, said arrests will increase once "the aperture opens up beyond criminals." ICE, which has been publicizing arrests with the caption, "The Worst First," has said people with criminal histories are their immediate - but not only - priority.

“I've made it clear that if you're in the country illegally, you're not off the table," Homan said.

Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said "more than 8,000" people in the country illegally had been arrested since Trump's inauguration through Wednesday, with 461 later released for reasons that included medical conditions, lack of detention capacity and because some were still contesting their removals.

Wednesday’s operation included the largely empty apartment complex where the viral video was taken in August. Residents have been moving out because all but one of its buildings is set to close Feb. 18 after a judge said it was a public safety threat.

Three people have died because of fentanyl at the complex in the last month, the Drug Enforcement Administration office said.

In December, police say a group of people that included seven suspected Tren de Aragua members tied up, pistol whipped and terrorized two fellow immigrants from Venezuela at the complex. Nine people, initially put in ICE custody, are being prosecuted on state charges and transferred to the local jail.

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Associated Press reporter Darlene Superville contributed from Washington.