The Aurora Police Department worked with ICE to investigate and arrest the Tren de Aragua gang members who kidnapped and tortured their victims, and the American Civil Liberties Union is very upset about it. 

They have been warning other police departments not to work with ICE and are "investigating" the APD and intend to drag them into court. 

This is ridiculous. The ACLU wants to investigate APD and ICE for raiding the TdA gang apartments at “The Edge at Lowry” because APD and ICE worked together to stop violent crime. The ACLU isn't protecting Americans. 🤬😡🤬https://t.co/BQSvA2lLnF

— John Fabbricatore (@JohnE_Fabb) January 5, 2025

No doubt the ACLU will find some procedural mistake or embarrassing comment made in the volumes of bodycam footage--after all, when you are raiding 19 heavily armed and violent gang members, somebody, somewhere, is likely to find something embarrassing you can use as a legal hook to sue. 

And that is the point: at the moment, nobody is claiming that a civil rights violation has taken place; the ACLU hopes to find something in order to intimidate police departments across Colorado to stop working with the federal government to stop migrant crime. 

AURORA, Colo. — The ACLU of Colorado said it is investigating law enforcement's response to a reported home invasion and kidnapping at a troubled Aurora apartment complex last month.

The crime happened at the Edge of Lowry apartments in Aurora just before 8:45 p.m. on Dec. 16. During a press conference, Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said two people – a man and a woman – were accosted by approximately 13 to 15 armed individuals before they were kidnapped and taken to a different unit within the same building.

There, Chamberlain said, the victims were “actually bound. They were pistol-whipped. They were beat. They were victimized. They were terrorized.”

The victims were not only kidnapped but their home was burglarized and taken over by some of the suspects in the group, Chamberlain added.

The ACLU is "investigating." In other words, they have no reason to sue, but are looking for one so they can punish Aurora for working with ICE. 

Macdonald said the ACLU of Colorado sent a letter to all Colorado sheriffs and county attorneys "reiterating that Colorado law restricts state and local law enforcement’s involvement in the enforcement of federal civil immigration law, recognizing that such entanglement threatens community trust and safety, and specifically forbids state and local law enforcement officers from arresting or detaining individuals for civil immigration purposes, including at the request of ICE."

Full statement:

The ACLU of Colorado is currently investigating the Aurora Police Department and ICE raid at The Edge at Lowry apartments on December 17, 2024, including efforts to obtain the body camera footage from the raid.

The ACLU of Colorado sent a letter following the raid in December to all Colorado sheriffs and county attorneys reiterating that Colorado law restricts state and local law enforcement’s involvement in the enforcement of federal civil immigration law, recognizing that such entanglement threatens community trust and safety, and specifically forbids state and local law enforcement officers from arresting or detaining individuals for civil immigration purposes, including at the request of ICE.

In a statement, Chief Chamberlain called the ACLU of Colorado's portrayal of the incident a "gross mischaracterization of the facts." The police chief said, "Colorado law does not prohibit the Aurora Police Department, or any other law enforcement agency in our state, from assisting federal officials in apprehending criminal offenders or those with federal warrants, both of which applied to the suspects involved in this crime."

Colorado does have some restrictions on how closely local governments can work with federal immigration officials and are seemingly prevented from directly enforcing federal immigration laws. Still, even the ACLU has in the past admitted that local law enforcement can work with federal law enforcement, including on immigration matters. 

Chamberlain went on to say that his department "will use every available resource – including federal, state and local – to hold those individuals who victimize members of our community accountable. At the same time, APD will not enforce federal immigration laws specifically, nor does it have the authority to do so. We are here to support everyone in our community, and hold those who victimize others accountable, regardless of person’s immigration status."

Not that this was an immigration enforcement raid. Aurora PD didn't call up ICE and raid a beauty salon or a construction site looking for random illegal immigrants--it was executing a warrant to capture violent kidnappers who are part of a criminal conspiracy called a gang. Federal authorities had warrants for some of the criminals and participated in the raid. 

Did the ACLU want the Aurora PD to go up against heavily armed criminals without all the assistance they could get?

Yes. Yes, they did. And they want other police departments to do so if necessary. 

This is the investigation's point, as well as the threats to other police departments. 

Ironically, the ACLU's standard here is the opposite of probable cause--they are investigating to find something they can hang on the police, not having anything but a hope that they can punish the APD for some as-yet unspecified violation. And, of course, intimidate other police departments. 

If there were some gross violation of anybody's civil liberties (other than the kidnap victims, about whom the ACLU shows no concern), I could understand the ACLU's point--sometimes you have to do unsavory things to defend against government abuse of power--but they admit that there are none here that they yet know of. They just don't like that APD worked with ICE, so they are poking around to look for SOMETHING they can hang on the police to make life difficult for them. 

The goal is to make any cooperation with the federal government too difficult and expensive, not because anybody's civil liberties are being violated, but because the ACLU is on the side of the gangs because they are illegal aliens. 

Illegal aliens are the real victims, even if they kidnap and torture you. White privilege, you know.