A raid to find dangerous Venezuelan gang members hiding out in a Colorado apartment is now the target of an investigation by the ultra-liberal ACLU.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado alleges Aurora police violated state law during a Dec. 17 police operation on the outskirts of Lowry Apartments.
Members of the notorious South American gang Tren de Aragua kidnapped and tortured a couple for hours, police said.
When the victims went to the police for help, local police officers stormed the premises, a known TdA stronghold – the same apartment that made national headlines in August when armed gangsters stormed a unit to terrorize the residents.
Aurora PD called for help from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that day and turned 19 Venezuelans over to the FBI who detained them on immigration charges.
Ultimately, eight of them were charged by Aurora police with kidnapping.
The ACLU, however, is leaning on a Centennial State law that bars local agents from extraditing migrants to federal immigration authorities. It is a common practice that is allowed in many other places.
“Whether APD’s stated law enforcement objectives were legitimate or pretextual, the officers conducted the raid in a manner that appears to have exceeded their authority under Colorado law,” ACLU of Colorado Legal Director Tim Macdonald told reporters. Denver TV station KDVR.
Aurora police are under fire as the ACLU has accused them of violating state law by turning migrants over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement
As part of its investigation into the TdA raid, the ACLU is demanding that officers’ body-worn camera footage be reviewed.
Three adult residents of the apartments who were not involved in the kidnapping have been taken into custody, DailyMail.com previously reported.
The Venezuelan migrants, who are legally in the United States, were later released by ICE. But local police insist the other sixteen people taken into custody are TdA gangsters.
Following the December raid on the Edge of Lowry apartments, Aurora police released photos of weapons seized from the property, including a hidden compartment behind a shower wall intended to conceal the illegal weapons.
Tren de Aragua, the same transnational crime organization that unleashed a crime wave in the US, took over three apartment complexes in Aurora in 2024.
The Venezuelan criminals have victimized other migrants, demanding money from them and beating or hurting those who did not follow the rules.
Empty apartments were converted into drug and prostitution dens where migrant women and children were pimped out to drug users so the gang could make money.
‘This is ridiculous. The ACLU wants to investigate APD and ICE for robbing the TdA gang apartments in “The Edge at Lowry” because APD and ICE worked together to stop violent crime. The ACLU is not protecting Americans,” former Colorado ICE director tweeted Johannes Fabbricatore.
The Edge of Lowry Apartment in Aurora, Colorado is one of three apartments taken over by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua
A hidden compartment in the wall at the Edge of Lowry apartments shows where suspected TdA members hid weapons so police wouldn’t find them
Edge of Lowry is the only apartment complex currently under the control of Tren de Aragua, but the Whispering Pines Apartments and Aspen Groves were under the gangs’ control in 2024.
The ACLU has previously sued other law enforcement agencies and won, including its 2024 victory over the Teller County Sheriff’s Office to house migrants on behalf of ICE.
No matter how the ALCU investigation into the Aurora Police Department turns out, state laws will continue to hinder police in the Rocky Mountain State from dealing with crime, a former officer-turned-Congressman explained.
“That’s honestly the reason I’m not a cop anymore,” Republican Congressman Gabe Evan told DailyMail.com of his time on the Arvada Police Department.
“I was a police officer until 2022, when crime in Colorado got so bad, and I couldn’t make a difference because I was handcuffed by terrible policies.”
Colorado voters also banned ICE agents from appearing in court to make arrests.
“When Colorado took that sharp left turn, it was a matter of weeks before the (Mexican) cartels found out about it, before these transnational criminal organizations found out about it, and they moved to set up shop in Colorado specifically to take advantage of our very soft laws on crime,” Evans added.
“Law enforcement just has enormous liability and red tape for them to do anything in Colorado. And so not only do you have our domestic criminals taking advantage of that, but now you also have the big boys.”