During a weeklong operation earlier this month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 243 immigrants in the metro Denver area, part of the Trump administration’s intensified enforcement on the illegal immigration front.

The agency confirmed the arrests occurred between July 12 and July 20.

ICE officials also criticized Colorado’s “sanctuary” policies, saying many of the immigrants with a criminal history were released in metro Denver because of laws preventing cooperation with federal agents. 

According to ICE officials, the operation netted immigrants residing in the country who had been accused or convicted of various crimes, such as murder, theft, assault, driving under the influence, drug-related offenses, human trafficking, and sex-related crimes — including exploitation of a minor.

“This operation highlights our unwavering commitment to ensuring the safety and security of our communities,” Robert Guadian, the ICE field office director in Denver, said in a statement. “By partnering with federal agencies, we have successfully apprehended individuals who pose a significant threat to public safety.”

Those arrested came from 16 countries. While most of the arrestees hailed from Latin American countries, others came from Europe, Asia and Africa.

ICE officials provided very few details about the operations, declining to say how and where the individuals were taken into custody. They released only the names and ages of eight out of more than 200 people detained during the operation. They did not provide additional information on the others.

President Donald Trump won a trip back to the White House, in part, on his campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration. He vowed during a stop in the Denver metro area last year to begin his mass deportation effort in Colorado.

Calling it “Operation Aurora,” Trump said the campaign would expedite the removal of “savage gangs” whose members are living in the country illegally. He specifically Tren de Aragua (TdA), a transnational gang that originated from the prisons of Venezuela.   

“We are a country under tremendous distress,” Trump said while in Aurora in October. “We will send elite squads from ICE to deport every single gang member.”

TDA is a violent Venezuelan prison gang that expanded its footprint into the United States, establishing a foothold in the Denver metro area.

Within hours of being sworn in, Trump issued a flurry of executive orders aimed at reshaping U.S. immigration policy. His actions included ending birthright citizenship, expediting deportations and rescinding long-standing restrictions on where enforcement actions can take place.

The trial courts have handed Trump several setbacks by blocking — at least temporarily — a number of his executive orders, though the Supreme Court has also sided with the president, such as by limiting nationwide injunctions and allowing certain deportations. 

TdA gang members have been linked to a myriad of criminal activities that include human trafficking — specifically immigrant women and girls — drug trafficking, kidnapping, and money laundering.

Federal authorities have repeatedly said that they were targeting “the worst of the worst” in their roundups.

ICE officials alleged four of those they detained on the most recent operation were TdA gang members, as well as one individual from Los Zetas, a Mexican drug cartel, and the Sinaloa Cartel.

Officials only named one of the suspected TdA gang members: Johnondris Daniel Rodriguez, 28.

Here is a list of people that ICE named and provided some details, including their alleged or adjudicated crimes:

• Rigoberto Carranza-Mendez, 47, of Mexico, has been convicted of murder and DUI

• Nicolas Diaz-Hernandez, 51, of Mexico, an alleged Los Zetas gang member convicted of criminal impersonation, controlled substance distribution and conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance

• Roberto Arambula, 45, of Mexico, with a criminal history that includes conviction for theft and pending charges of fentanyl distribution in Greeley

• Tomas Arana-Fuentes, 49, of Mexico, with pending sexual assault charges

• Jacinto Gonzalez-Perez, 25, of Mexico, convicted of careless driving that resulted in a death in El Paso County

• Blanca Ochoa Tello, 36, of Mexico, who was found with about 20,000 fentanyl pills in her vehicle when she was arrested

• Javier Ulises Sanchez-Andazola, 24, of Mexico, who has been convicted of DUI and a sex assault against a child in Greeley

The agency highlighted these arrests as part of the broader challenges it faces. ICE officials contended that that local policies have stymied their efforts.

“We will continue to work diligently to combat crime and uphold the rule of law,” ICE’s Guadian said. “Many of the criminal aliens ICE arrested during this operation had been previously released into the Denver metro area by local county jails — directly into the community — because of Colorado’s sanctuary laws that prevent Sheriffs from cooperating with ICE.”

The term “sanctuary laws” generally refers to jurisdictions that prohibits local law enforcement from reporting an individual’s immigration status to federal authorities.

During a Congressional hearing in March, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan blasted Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, who was called to testify, over an alleged TdA gang member being released onto the street rather than into ICE custody.

Denver under Johnston and his predecessor, former Mayor Michael B. Hancock, had struggled in its response to the thousands of immigrants who arrived in city from Texas over the past two years. The immigrants overwhelmed local shelters and strained the city’s financial resources.

Over a roughly 18-month period starting in December 2022, more than 40,000 immigrants made their way to Denver after illegally crossing the southern border. While no one in the city has tracked the number of immigrants who have stayed, bus, plane and train tickets suggested about half have stayed.

That’s the equivalent of adding a city the size of Golden to the Denver metro area in less than two years.