Police in Aurora, Colorado, have detained five more migrants in an armed home invasion and kidnapping that occurred early Tuesday morning.
This brings to 19 the number of migrants detained in the incident, which involved two victims being beaten, bound and kidnapped in a Denver suburb
A spokesperson for ICE told Fox News Digital 16 of those in custody have been identified as Venezuelan nationals in the U.S. without authorization and “are suspected of being members or associates of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.”
Tren de Aragua, or TdA, is a violent international criminal group that has been terrorizing Aurora residents for over a year.
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This compilation shows suspected Tren de Aragua members and the southern border. (Fox News/Border Patrol)
The ICE official said the 16 suspects “will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings or hearings before an immigration judge.”
Aurora Police Department Chief Todd Chamberlain said Tuesday the home invasion was “without question a gang incident.”
However, Joe Moylan, a representative for the Aurora Police Department, told Fox News Digital police are still working to identify the suspects and have not yet been able to officially confirm whether the incident was gang-related.
Police were called to an Aurora housing complex, The Edge at Lowry Apartments, just before 2:30 a.m. Tuesday in response to a reported armed home invasion in which victims were assaulted and taken to another apartment in the same complex.
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Police officers in the Gang Unit search for evidence in apartment buildings at 12th and Dallas in Aurora, Colo., Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. The dwellings were the target of a reported home invasion overnight. (Fox News Digital)
One of the victims, a man, sustained a stab wound but is expected to survive. Both victims are still at a hospital for treatment.
Moylan said Aurora police served an additional warrant at the apartment complex late Tuesday afternoon, resulting in their taking in the five additional migrants for questioning. He said police are working in conjunction with federal authorities, including Homeland Security Investigators who are helping to identify everyone involved.
Moylan said the Aurora police chief will likely address the incident further in another press conference once more details are confirmed.
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Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain speaks to the media during a press conference in Aurora, Colo., Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
Roger Hudson, a city council member in nearby Castle Pines, Colorado, who has had contact with the apartment owner, told Fox News Digital most people in the area believe Tren de Aragua is behind the incident. In recent months, the gang has only become “more powerful, more dangerous and more desperate,” he said.
Hudson bashed the sanctuary policies passed by Colorado and the City of Denver, which he said have made it more difficult for state and local law enforcement to protect Coloradans from the likes of TdA.
“These policies make all of our communities less safe,” he said. “This is lawlessness in the West, and you can’t have that. That’s not who we are as a country. That’s not who we are as a state.”
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
