Federal narcotics and immigration agents arrested about 90 people over the past two weeks in a series of raids that ramped up in Colorado and elsewhere in the country following the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

A federal spokesperson said “quite a number” of the 90 are connected to Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang seeking to entrench its tentacles in metro Denver.

Trump has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration, beginning with individuals convicted or accused of violent criminal offenses. He specifically cited the TdA gang’s operations in Aurora while he was campaigning for the White House.    

The majority of the individuals arrested have been detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, authorities said. 

DEA Rocky Mountain Field Division Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen told The Denver Gazette that what the public is seeing is just the beginning of the collaboration between the DEA and other federal agencies, notably ICE and the FBI. 

“This is a new day when we talk about the way we’re working with our federal partners,” he said. “It’s enhanced here. We’ve been directed to focus on the most dangerous people who are criminal aliens in our society. That’s the focus.”

The DEA labeled 10 of the suspects as the “most dangerous.” The 10 are from South American countries, five from Venezuela, authorities said.  

ICE, DEA and the FBI conducted multiple immigration raids in the metro Denver metro last week but didn’t provide much details. Typically, agencies disclose the number of individuals arrested and detained, as well as which agencies have taken part in an operation.

Pullen said the agencies do not have the official numbers of arrests from the raids and operations over the past two weeks.

In a social media post last week, ICE officials said it was targeting “100+ members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua” or TdA. DEA officials said agents were chasing “wanted drug traffickers.”

When conducting raids, the DEA goes after specific targets outlined in a warrant or a specific location highlighted as a hot-spot for drug activity, according to Pullen. The agents don’t know how many people or who will be in the areas when the warrants are served.

“Sometimes with these illegal aliens, they don’t have a name in a system in the United States to search for,” Pullen said. “If they haven’t been arrested in the United States and fully identified by fingerprints or something, we may not have a full name. We may only have a nickname.”

Federal and local law enforcement units raided a warehouse in Adams County last month and arrested roughly 50 people. Four of the suspects landed on the DEA’s “Top 10” most dangerous list on Wednesday.

The Denver Gazette has requested, but not been provided copies of the warrants used to justify the searches and arrests. Pullen said he believes they are sealed by the federal court.

It is unclear how many TdA gang members, if any, federal authorities arrested or detained, but Pullen said “quite a number” of the 90 arrested over the past few weeks are connected to the gang.

TdA, which originated in the prisons of Venezuela, is linked to criminal activities that include human trafficking — particularly of immigrant women and girls — drug trafficking, kidnapping, and money laundering.

Pullen said the DEA has also been noting suspects connected to TdA who are from Columbia, Chile and Peru, in addition to coming from Venezuela.

“There is no card in their wallet that identifies them as a TdA member,” he said. “Just because they’re Venezuelan doesn’t mean they’re TdA. There are tons of Venezuelans we have arrested in the past weeks and months who aren’t connected to TdA.”

Trump used the gang’s activities as a rallying call during the campaign, promising to launch what he has dubbed “Operation Aurora” in an immigration crackdown specifically targeting TdA.

Aurora was thrust into the national spotlight last year after gang members took over at least two apartment complexes, according to internal police emails obtained by The Denver Gazette.

Last week, federal authorities conducted multiple raids, including at the Cedar Run Apartments, a 384-unit apartment complex in southeast Denver built in 1970. Residents The Denver Gazette spoke to said federal agents were looking for drugs, but they were not provided a copy of the warrant.

“They didn’t show nothing,” Fernando Martinez said previously. “They just let themselves in.”

At least three Cedar Run units showed evidence that federal agents had used a battering ram to break into apartments.

Pullen said drug activity at Cedar Run was the reason for the raid. He said that in one apartment, 12 people were pulled out who were “zombies” because of being up all night smoking fentanyl. 

One agent met a grandmother who told him she was concerned for her safety because she had been robbed twice in that building. Her car had also been stolen there.

Pullen said the agents didn’t ask for records of her citizenship because that’s not who they were there for.

“There are people in these communities who are so happy to see law enforcement show up in these apartment buildings,” Pullen said. “In fact, we’ve had other apartment managers calling and asking for help in the past days.” 

He continued: “That’s the story media is missing. It’s not taking illegal aliens off the street. We’re targeting criminal aliens.”

According to The Denver Gazette’s news partner, 9News, ICE agents targeted residences in Aurora, Denver, Thornton and Arapahoe County, including two troubled apartment complexes owned by CBZ Management or its subsidiaries: The Edge at Lowry and Whispering Pines in Aurora.

Residents reported to 9News that agents went door-to-door asking for documentation.

Typically, illegal immigration directly impacts border states like Texas and California. However, interior cities like Denver began experiencing an influx two years ago, welcoming nearly 43,000 immigrants, mostly from South and Central America. Bus, plane and train tickets city officials purchased to send immigrants on to their final destination suggest about half have stayed in Colorado.

The federal agents have dubbed their raids in metro Denver “Operation Return to Sender.” 

“We’re still working. We have a long list,” Pullen said. 

Denver Gazette staff writer Nicole Brambila contributed to this report.