Updated at 3:41 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025
Immigration agents accompanied by other federal law enforcement officers raided several apartment complexes in Aurora and Denver Wednesday, taking some people into custody.
However, it isn't clear whether any will face criminal charges, deportation, or both.
It started just after 6 a.m., when residents of The Edge at Lowry apartments at 1218 Dallas St. in Aurora were awakened by a series of loud bangs. A similar scene was playing out at about the same time at Denver's Cedar Run Apartments on South Oneida Street.
Teddy D'Agostino told Denverite he was in a car near The Edge complex and watched as officers went in.

“They just started flooding in. They stated that they did have a warrant,” D'Agostino said, identifying the agents as being from ICE, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration. “They didn’t take any people, but they did take a bag of evidence.”
The operations appeared to be a continuation of mass deportation efforts in several U.S. cities long promised by President Donald Trump and dubbed by him during his campaign as Operation Aurora.
- Related: Thousands join 50 States protest at state Capitol as immigration authorities operate around Denver
Throughout the day the federal agencies communicated with the public primarily through posts on the social media site X, owned by Trump aide Elon Musk and formerly known as Twitter.
In one, an ICE account said the operations were designed to capture more than 100 members of a Venezuelan gang the post claimed lived and operated in Aurora. No evidence of crimes or gang ties for any of them has yet been made public.
Immigration attorneys estimate nine to 15 people were taken
As of 2 p.m., officials still hadn't released any count of those detained on criminal charges or immigration holds.
Immigration attorneys and advocacy groups estimated anywhere from nine to 15 people were taken from five locations, but that number was fluid and attorneys were still trying to determine Wednesday afternoon how many were in custody and where they were taken.
Denverite reporters at an early morning operation saw agents take some individuals away from Cedar Run Apartments in marked vehicles, though it's not known whether they are formally under arrest.

The owners of Cedar Run issued a statement Wednesday afternoon complaining that the city of Denver had "assigned" people to the complex and that a handful had caused trouble, including gang activity.
"Our top priority remains the safety and well-being of our residents, and we welcome any
support in tackling violent crime," read the statement from Gelt Venture Partners. "We are particularly concerned for the law-abiding members of our community who are affected by these events and are committed to assisting them in any way we can."

Around 9 a.m., law enforcement vehicles, including some marked as being from the Aurora Police Department, were also seen entering the GEO Group-operated ICE detainment center in Aurora.
From there, operations were reported by advocates at three other spots, a complex at Harvard and Quebec in Denver, a family shelter on East Hampden and a complex at Colorado and Mexico, near Interstate 25 and also in Denver.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said the city was not given prior notice that the operations would be happening. He also said the Denver Police Department and city authorities were not involved.

In each of Wednesday's operations, it appeared ICE simply piggybacked on the efforts of the criminal investigative agencies as the criminal investigators targeted a small number of apartments. ICE agents, with limited criminal arrest powers, fanned out throughout complexes knocking on doors and asking residents about immigration status or if they could enter to search for contraband.
Residents, who have been learning their rights for weeks from advocacy groups like the Colorado Rapid Response Network, could either choose not to answer the door, as seen repeatedly by a Denverite reporter at The Edge, or open the door but decline to answer questions or let ICE enter.
Residents and organizers shouted 'know your rights' information and protested
Mark Sewell, a resident at Cedar Run, said he and his neighbors were awakened by law enforcement. He said agents were trying to enter homes and search for identification.
Sewell began shouting information about immigration rights outside the complex, letting residents know they didn’t have to open doors unless the agents produced a signed warrant.

“I’m a native Hawaiian, but this right here, this is some BS,” Sewell said. “We as the people we have to stand up together against this kind of stuff because at the end of the day we all got each other.”
The Rapid Response Network was deploying volunteers to complexes from the moment the operations began, using a bullhorn to remind residents they could keep their doors closed and that ICE was working in the complex.
Katie Leonard, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation in Denver, was also providing information to Cedar Run residents early Wednesday to make sure they knew their rights. She said activists have been at the location since law enforcement started arriving.
Leonard said that while some people have been detained, others who did not consent to a search were able to leave.

“It’s very clear that these [agents] are harassing folks where they live,” Leonard said. “We have a son and a father over here who are afraid to leave the parking lot because everyone is being interrogated at the exit.”
Leonard said she spoke to someone whose brother was among those detained. He was going through the legal process to seek asylum, she said.
“People are just being harassed,” Leonard said. “Kids are trying to get to school, people are trying to get to work and these people are more than just disrupting their day, they’re really terrorizing folks, which is just awful.”

Alejandro, a fellow Cedar Run resident who did not give his last name, said he was also awakened by federal agents in the early morning hours. While they didn’t knock on his door, he heard them say they were looking for criminals with police records.
“Thank God they didn't knock on the apartment,” Alejandro, who is Venezuelan and has permission to work in the U.S., said in Spanish. “Although we are not criminals, obviously one gets scared. We are hard-working people, good people and those of us who come here want to work.”
The immigrants in Denver that ICE might be targeting
As many as 40,000 Venezuelan immigrants arrived in metro Denver starting in late 2023, many of them sent here on buses provided by the state of Texas without notice or warning to Colorado.
An unknown number of those who came to Colorado have "Temporary Protected Status" allowing them to pursue asylum or other immigration claims and be protected from immediate deportation as long as they follow the law and stay out of trouble.
ICE has said they are only targeting people who have committed crimes. But ICE has no authority to enter private properties with nothing more than an administrative warrant.

Criminal warrants, however, give other law enforcement agencies like the FBI, ATF or DEA a judge's permission to enter private property to search for people wanted for crimes, or evidence of crimes. That appeared to have happened in a couple of cases Wednesday.
Many families have already moved out of The Edge, which is set to be closed by the city this month over long-running concerns about maintenance, security and crime.
The buildings have housed hundreds of those recent immigrants from Venezuela, as well as alleged members of the gang Tren de Aragua. The building’s owners and Aurora police allege that the gang was extorting rent payments from some residents.
CPR reporter Haylee May contributed to this story.
This is a developing story and will be updated.