Federal agents arrested nearly 50 members and affiliates of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua over the weekend in a raid at a makeshift nightclub in suburban Denver.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Rocky Mountain Division said Sunday it helped carry out the raid in Adams County, as federal resources are being used to crack down on the ascendant Venezuelan street gang after President Trump declared it a foreign terrorist group.
The DEA said 49 people were taken into custody during the operation, and ICE officials who joined the effort said 41 of those people were in the country illegally.
“Tren de Aragua is associated with this, and there were members there,” David Olesky, a special agent with the DEA’s local field office, told KUSA-TV.
“You’re not going to get invited to this location unless you’re a trusted member of the group or have somebody vouching for you,” Mr. Olesky said. “This was not an event that was open to the public.”
The DEA said a monthslong drug-trafficking investigation helped the agency secure a search warrant for the vacant warehouse where the party was held.
A video posted on the local DEA’s X account showed several people handcuffed and waiting to be loaded onto a bus and taken to a detention facility.
The agency said it confiscated multiple weapons, large amounts of cash and drugs — including cocaine, crack cocaine and “tusi,” or pink cocaine — at the venue just outside Denver.
Bedroom communities around the Mile High City have been flooded by members of Tren de Aragua, or TdA.
The gang’s presence in nearby suburb Aurora catapulted TdA into the national spotlight when then-candidate Trump said he wanted to “liberate Aurora” from the violent crime syndicate during last fall’s lone presidential debate.
Mr. Trump’s comment was motivated by footage showing armed Tren de Aragua members taking over an apartment building in August. By December, multiple gang affiliates were charged with kidnapping and torturing two residents in another complex.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, a Republican, initially pushed back on Mr. Trump’s characterization about TdA’s footprint in the city.
But earlier this month he called out Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, a Democrat, for enlisting two nonprofits to relocate Venezuelan migrants — including TdA members — who were arriving from the southern border into his city.
Immigration sweeps throughout the country have been a major focus of the Trump administration as the president prioritizes capturing migrants with criminal records.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Sunday it had detained nearly 2,400 people during operations in New York City, Boston, California and Chicago.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.