Homicides Fall Nearly 60% in Colorado Cities After ICE Deportations
“This marked decrease in violence comes after intensified immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.”
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that began in January in Denver, Colorado, and the neighboring city of Aurora, appear to be having the desired effect.
KUSA-TV Denver reported that, according to the latest statistics from the Major Cities Chiefs Association, homicides were down by 58% in Denver in the first quarter of the year. Ten homicides were reported in the city during the first three months of 2025, versus 24 during the same period in 2024.
KUSA notes this is among the most significant drops in violent crime nationwide.
Homicides in Aurora fell by a lesser, but still impressive, rate of 36% during the first quarter to seven from 11 in 2024.
Although few media outlets are willing to make the connection between the drop in homicides and the ICE deportations of Tren de Aragua gang members from those cities in recent months, allow me to make it for them. It’s not a coincidence.
Independent journalist Sara Carter was among those willing to state the obvious:
This marked decrease in violence comes after intensified immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, which had made the Denver metropolitan area a key focus for removals of criminal migrants. ICE has acted swiftly, arresting 538 illegal aliens across multiple cities, including Denver. Shortly thereafter, the agency expanded its efforts in Colorado, zeroing in on members of Tren de Aragua.
Homicides Drop Sharply in Colorado Cities Following ICE Deportations of Tren de Aragua Gang Members https://t.co/8AouPWDQQQ
— Sara A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) May 15, 2025
The Trump administration moved immediately to crack down on illegal immigrants in the U.S., focusing particularly on those considered to be “the worst of the worst.” In his first week in office, agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Rocky Mountain Field Division executed a search warrant at an improvised club in Denver, arresting numerous individuals linked to the Tren de Aragua gang.
A second, larger ICE raid was planned for January 30 in Aurora, but the operation was aborted following media leaks.
A week later, ICE, with support from the FBI, DEA, CBP, ATF, and the U.S. Marshals, conducted an early morning raid at an apartment complex in Aurora and arrested 10 Tren de Aragua members.
ICE activity has continued in these cities and others, including Colorado Springs, over the past few months.
100+ members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua were targeted for arrest and detention in Aurora, Colo., today by ICE and its partners @FBI @DEAHQ @CBP @ATFHQ & @USMarshalsHQ in an ongoing investigation. pic.twitter.com/LzIVDjsee6
— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) February 5, 2025
According to Denver’s KDVR, a Fox News affiliate, crime is down this year in nearly every category in Aurora. At a recent news conference, Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlin said, “The City of Aurora and Aurora PD are actually in a really good spot right now. Our crime numbers are down 22.8% overall.”
Chamberlin noted that at this point last year, 5,193 residents had been victims of crime in his city. Year-to-date, the number is 4,045.
However, he stopped short of attributing the drop in the crime rate to the ICE deportations.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston have reportedly worked to thwart the federal government’s efforts to deport illegals in the state. Shortly after the election, Johnston made headlines over his pledge to protect the undocumented in his city. In an interview with local media outlet Denverite at the time, Johnston said, not only are we “gonna continue to be a welcoming, open, big-hearted city that’s gonna stand by our values,” but “more than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there.”
He added, “It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right?”
Earlier this month, the Department of Justice sued Polis, Johnston, Attorney General Phil Weiser, and Sheriff Elias Diggins. The lawsuit accused the state and the city of Denver of having laws structured “by intent and design [to] interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law.”
We’ll have to wait and see whether they rise to the occasion.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn or X.
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Comments
blmplo will take up that slack in
10…9…8..
Well Gollyyyyyyyyy. Imagine that,
cORreLatioN is nOt cAUsaTiON, yOU liTerAl nAZIs!
Y’all need to just get it over with a grow toothbrush mustaches, even youse wymenz!
Are you using the Tren De Ebonics language?
No. He’s just being annoying.
I thought it was sarcasm. He’s for real?
Go back to school and learn the word literal means.
Correlation doesn’t prove causation, unless it suits us to claim it does. If rising CO2 correlates with rising temperatures, then that proves causation. If the USA has more guns per capita than other Western countries, and also more homicides per capita than other Western countries, then that proves causation. All evidence to the contrary will be ignored, because the correlation is irrefutable. But where the correlation doesn’t suit us, then it proves nothing and is just a coincidence.
Conversely, correlation doesn’t disprove causation. So, naturally, I must ask: What additional evidence would you require before you’d believe that the increase in deportations of violent criminals in Denver caused the significant decrease in homicides?
Oh, I believe it. The correlation doesn’t prove it, but unlike the ones the left insist on, it at least makes sense. When you hear hoofbeats think horses, not zebras. When it stands to reason that A ought to cause B, and you find that they are correlated, then a reasonable first assumption is that A did indeed cause B. But you should hold that whether it suits you or not. And be prepared to be surprised by it being wrong even in cases where it stands to reason.
Put it this way: When John Lott finds that more guns correlates with less crime, this confirms our expectations. He’s careful to say that he’s not claiming that it proves causation; but it certainly suggests it.
Exactly correct. Removing violent criminals from a community *should* result in a reduction in violent criminal activity, but (and there’s always a but) there may be contributing factors such as “Heck, there’s so many cops around arresting folk I ain’t got no chance to go shoot up the block where Hector lives.” I really sympathize with Chamberlin. He *can’t* say federal ICE enforcement is reducing the crime in his area. He has some very Democrat superiors who rule over him, and they hate Trump with the fire of a thousand suns. Any admission to reality will be treated by them as a reason to lash out at him, not the violent criminals he is dealing with every day.
“If the USA has more guns per capita than other Western countries, and also more homicides per capita than other Western countries, then that proves causation.”
Not even. They’d never dare claim this, since the second part is easily disprovable.
Their claim is that “the USA has more guns per capita than other Western countries, and also more GUN homicides per capita than other Western countries, then that proves causation.”
Which is a totally stupid and useless claim, but if you say it quickly it SOUNDS convincing.
No, it is true. The USA has an unusually high homicide rate, and that has been true for centuries. This has nothing to do with guns. Our non-gun homicide rate is higher than comparable countries’ total homicide rate. Which means even if we somehow managed to get rid of all guns, and everyone who would have killed someone with a gun decided not to kill them after all rather than use some other means, we’d still have the highest homicide rate. Of course we all understand that if we did somehow manage to get rid of all guns our homicide rate would actually go up, not down.
Deport all Democrats in Co. and watch crime fall to zero.
Imagine that….expel the criminals and the next day, there is a 99% drop in crime.
Much better than the Dems approach of just not counting and all out de-criminalizing crime.
Dems view this as a negative because a drop in homicides, in particular gun homicides, take the impetus out of their anti-gun agenda. This is why they’re opposed to any “gun violence” solution that isn’t gun control – they’re afraid it will work, and then how will they promote their agenda item?
Gosh! Who could have predicted this??
In other news, the sun rises in the east, water is wet, bears do shit in the woods, and this Pope has a 75% chance of being Catholic.
A vastly underrated comment, especially given that 82% of all statistics are just made up on the spot.
Wow, who would have thought that removing criminals would reduce the crime rate?
“He added, “It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right?”
Is this yutz actually conflating Tienanmen Square with Kent State?
Yes.