Immigration law enforcement agents are expected to conduct large-scale arrests in three cities per week and Aurora, Colorado – a city that received attention from President Donald Trump during the presidential election – is expected to be the next target.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are reportedly preparing to begin an operation in the city on Thursday morning, three sources familiar with the planning told NBC News.
That raid would occur after law enforcement began conducting arrests in Chicago on Sunday and New York City on Tuesday.
Local officials did not confirm any information regarding the potential raid when asked by The Denver Post.
However, on Monday, military officials opened the Buckley Space Force Base, located in Aurora, for ICE agents to use to temporarily detain immigrants at the request of the Department of Homeland Security, according to The Denver Post.
Already federal officials arrested more than 40 immigrants in Adams County over the weekend.
It’s an unsurprising move given Trump repeatedly used Aurora as an example of a city that would benefit from his harsh anti-immigration policies on the campaign trail. He falsely claimed the city was being overrun with immigrants who were part of Venezuelan gangs, calling it a “war zone.”
His exaggeration about the status of Aurora was based on reports of criminal activity by several individuals tied to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The city of Aurora and its leadership within the police department and city government disputed those claims saying the city is safe and there were isolated incidents involving gang members. Even Aurora’s Republican Mayor Mike Coffman pushed back on Trump’s claims saying they were “grossly exaggerated and unfairly hurt the city’s identity.”
But that didn’t stop Trump from holding a rally there where he announced the nickname for his immigration plan that would invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798: “Operation Aurora.”
Sources familiar with the immigration arrest plans told NBC News that ICE field offices across the country have been told to increase the number of migrant arrest operations. Those “routine operations” should result in a quota of between 1,200 and 1,500 arrests per day, sources told The Washington Post.
In addition to that, each week, federal agents will reportedly fly into three cities to conduct larger operations.
As of Wednesday, federal immigration agents indicated they had arrested more than 5,500 people since January 23.
