Aurora, Colorado, is one of the middlin' sized cities that's been in the news for illegals imported by the Biden administration running amok, but not the least exciting.

The town became a cause celebre during the campaign when only through efforts of frightened tenants and the dogged determination of a local councilwoman was the fact that Venezuelan gang members had basically taken over an apartment building addressed at last by the city. 

And then exploded into the middle of the contentious 2024 presidential campaign.

What it also exposed were the lengths sanctuary governors and local officials were willing to go to cover for the illegal aliens in their midst, however so vile, at the expense of their own citizens.

...It was all thanks to the efforts of frustrated tenants who had finally found a sympathetic ear in conservative councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky. After trying to work with the police chief, Jurinsky went public on Facebook with what she had. Her assertions, particularly of a Tren de Aragua take-over, were immediately dogpiled by local officials, with the governor of CO stepping in it himself to pooh-pooh the councilwoman's hysteria and anti-immigrant bias.

...This wasn't hysterical stories about eating pets - this was video of a cartel warzone from Caracas dropped into a US zipcode.

The mayor looked like a vacillating tool. At first, 'yes, there's gang activity.' Then, a waffling, "No, I agree with the police chief."

A couple was eventually kidnapped and tortured by the gang at the very apartment building whose tenants the councilwoman had been advocating for, activity which CO's delightful governor Jared Polis sneered was a "FEATURE of Councilwoman Jurinsky's IMAGINATION." 

By December of this past year, post-election and with a new sheriff, Aurora was reluctantly admitting they did have themselves a bit of a gang problem with those feisty Venezuelan Tren de Aragua youths.

After Trump was sworn in, DHS head Kristi Noem and border czar Tom Homan swung into action across the country. One of the first stops their task forces made, besides Chicago, was in CO - Denver specifically.

It's weird to think this could have theoretically been done at any point over the past four years...

— Stephen JKD (@theStephenJKD) January 26, 2025

Serving notice to the illegal criminal community in the state that they were on ICE's radar.

DHS and ICE had planned an operation in and around Aurora for early this past Wednesday. Fox's Bill Melugin was with them.

Spent the last 12 hours embedded with ICE in the Aurora, CO area as part of a massive federal operation involving hundreds of agents from ICE, HSI, DEA, FBI, ATF, & CBP targeting Tren de Aragua gang members & criminal aliens. Story to come tomorrow on @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/OJbwQNwqhT

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) February 6, 2025

Of course, word of the operation upset the local sanctuary politicians who would seem to much prefer Tren de Aragua.

Federal law enforcement agencies conducted a large-scale immigration raid across Denver and Aurora on Wednesday, with masked agents deploying flashing smoke grenades, zip-tying detainees and taking an unconfirmed number of people into custody.

The operation began before dawn and lasted through much of the day, with armed federal agents staging around the metro area as teams both went door-to-door at targeted apartment complexes and quickly hit individual addresses.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Denver office said on social media that it was working with the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Customs and Border Protection, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service to search for more than 100 members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

...The raids, part of an ongoing pledge by President Donald Trump to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, drew widespread condemnation from Colorado immigrant rights groups and state Democratic lawmakers.

"I don't think this is the way for a nuclear-armed superpower to be operating in the world in 2025," said Sen. Mike Weissman, an Aurora Democrat, adding that he'd seen pictures of armored vehicles in the streets and federal agents on rooftops in Aurora.

The combined group of law enforcement was after 100 named gang members, but somehow, word leaked, and things went off the rails.

Obviously meant to write Aurora, CO. My apologies.

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) February 6, 2025

They were met by empty apartments and harassed at different locations by protesters with bullhorns.

Only other law enforcement officers, and possibly some public officials, have access to such highly compartmentalized information. Whoever leaked details of the pending raids put @ICEgov agents' lives in grave danger, giving their targets the opportunity to prepare an ambush.…

— Reeve Swainston, Esq. (@ReeveSwainston) February 6, 2025

There were about 30 arrests or so arrests despite the gangs being forewarned...

...although not many were the gang members they'd been after.

ICE raided apartment complexes in Aurora, CO today and arrested Tren de Aragua gang members. The same complexes which the gang took control over and the Governor and media said is a conspiracy and a figment of our imagination.pic.twitter.com/PgNbsXiwPm

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 6, 2025

You can hear some of the protest ruckus in this video.

AURORA, COLORADO

ICE Raid early in the morning at several apartment buildings

These are the building said to be taken over by TdA pic.twitter.com/0puFPBviZz

— Sarah Sansoni (@sarahsansoni) February 6, 2025

Homan is calling down the thunder and is considering suspending the media ride-alongs they've had.

A major ICE operation in Aurora, CO was temporarily postponed after leaks created an operations security risk for agents. This is an operations security problem that the first Trump administration experienced, resulting in counterintelligence investigations into leakers. pic.twitter.com/uSnS1jsBTj

— Early Warning Network (@earlywarningnet) January 30, 2025

I also heard him last night saying there was a report a local radio station was broadcasting info on the raids, and he would be speaking to the FCC about that station's license if it checked out.

The liberal wailing and gnashing of teeth is starting.

...But activists and neighbors believe the majority of detainees aren’t criminals, and they said immigration enforcement actions they witnessed took place without warrants. Although ICE isn’t required to have judicial warrants to detain immigrants who lack documentation, agents do need them to enter homes without consent.

“We have only known about random detainments,” said Lamine Kane, an organizer at nonprofit Colorado People’s Alliance. “Most people were randomly picked up without warrants, and some people’s homes were violated by (officers) forcing into them.”

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat whose district includes Aurora, said his office has fielded concerns from hundreds of Coloradans in recent days, including worries over the possibility of the military being pulled into domestic immigration enforcement efforts.

“I believe that if someone, regardless of their immigration status, is committing violent crimes, they have no place in Colorado,” Crow said. “But I don’t support scaring or rounding up our peaceful neighbors, family members and small business owners who live, work and contribute to our community.”

I know that whoever spilled the beans will feel the full force of Homan's fury, as well as whatever federal penalties will be enforced on outside participants who interfere, like radio stations.

As I figured, he's already got their number.

Seems most of us recall that @FCC just allowed Soros illegally to have 200 radio stations right before the election.
So this is not surprising and means @FCC should be investigated

— RoseDragon108 ... The Original (@Rosedragon108_) February 7, 2025

It's going to get more challenging and more dangerous from here, particularly when officials like Rep Crow are encouraging people to break the law - of course, at no personal danger to themselves.

Classic.

What is going to surprise all of these advocates is when the consequences for their actions, however far removed from the scene they performed them, come rolling down the pike.

It's going to be schweet.