The high-profile operation appeared to be one of the largest targeted raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since President Donald Trump took office on a promise to deport immigrants with criminal records.

The Trump administration said they were targeting criminals in Denver and Aurora. We asked federal agents how many of the people arrested were violent criminals.

The lawsuit asks the court to immediately end a number of laws and ordinances it says thwart federal immigration authorities.

The U.S. Justice Department sued the state of Illinois and city of Chicago on Thursday, accusing the Democratic strongholds of unlawfully interfering with Republican President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration and seeking a court order blocking so-called sanctuary laws.

Local law enforcement agencies play a limited role in immigration law, but that might change during Trump's promised mass deportation operation.

Federal officials said they were targeting over 100 alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang with prison origins that has expanded throughout the Americas.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement along with the Department of Homeland Security and several other agencies are in Denver and Aurora as part of a multi-location immigration enforcement operation Wednesday morning.