Federal immigration officers kicked down doors, hauling away migrants in a well-known Tren de Aragua gang stronghold in Colorado in a pre-dawn raid, DailyMail.com can exclusively confirm.
Just after 6 a.m., agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement descended on the Whispering Pines Apartments in Aurora, Colorado– one of three apartment buildings taken over by the .
With a warrant in hand, ICE went door-to-door, tagging doors with red tape where no one answered and using green tape where agents did make contact with someone.
Six men were handcuffed and taken away, according to on-the-ground sources.
In recent days, ICE had been surveilling the property looking for a specific Tren de Aragua member at Whispering Pines.
The South American had become a powerful cocaine dealer in the area.
DailyMail.com is withholding the gangster’s name and blurring his face for now, since it’s unclear whether he was nabbed in today’s raid.
Truckloads of ICE agents arrived around 4 a.m. Wednesday
In recent days, ICE had been surveilling the property looking for a specific Tren de Aragua member at Whispering Pines
It’s part of a Trump administration blitz on the Venezuelan super gang known as TdA, which has unleashed a wave of crime across the US, ranging from cop beatings to rape and murder.
‘100+ members of the violent gang Tren de Aragua were targeted for arrest and detention in Aurora, Colo., today by ICE and its partners,’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement of ICE shared on social media.
Other apartments in the Denver area were targeted as part of the enforcement this morning.
Footage of the raid at another property was posted to social media Wednesday.
The takeover of apartments has been key to the Tren de Aragua’s spread in the US– as the ruthless criminal organization uses the complexes to make money.
At three Aurora properties, including Whispering Pines, the gang moved in, seizing control of empty units.
TdA would then take those empty units and move in other migrants, who they would charge rent to, or turn the empty spaces into drug and prostitution dens– pimping out migrant women and children.
Red tape marks door where ICE agents had no response from residents at Whispering Pines Apartments. Green tape was left on door where agents got an answer or were able to clear the unit
Even occupied units in the complexes became money-makers for TdA as the mob would charge residents a fee in order to avoid violence.
Residents who did not comply were often subjected to assault, like a migrant woman who had boiling water thrown at her by gang members when she and her husband refused to pay the fee.
In Aurora, TdA took over at least three complexes: Aspen Grove Apartments, Whispering Pines, and the Edge of Lowry.
