DENVER — It's just after 9:30 a.m. on a Friday at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Denver, and the building's processing center is already filling up with detained immigrants who are allegedly undocumented.
"They chose to remain in the United States illegally. Now, they've been arrested by ICE," said Robert Guadian, the field office director (FOD).
Denver7 Investigates spent a full day with the FOD and other ICE agents, and had the opportunity to ask all of them questions about ICE's operations, changes in strategy since the Trump administration took office in January and if the agency is really targeting what they call "the worst of the worst."
On this particular Friday — July 19 — the target of the operation was Kenner Medina-Arteaga, 22, who is from Honduras, according to ICE.
July 19 was one of what ICE said was a nine-day operation in which the agency took 243 people into custody who are "currently charged with or have been convicted of criminal offenses after illegally entering the United States."
Medina-Arteaga has two open drug cases in Arapahoe and Denver counties. ICE says he re-entered the country after being removed and is suspected to have ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and the Francisco Morazan Drug Trafficking Organization.
Before making arrests, Guadian said the agents are briefed on who they are looking for and why. Agents go through a detailed walk-through of who and what they believe is in each building and they know the location of the nearest hospital.
“The Denver field office doesn't conduct raids. We do targeted enforcement. We know who we're going after, every single day," Guadian said. "We know where they live. We know what they look like. They're targeted enforcement operations and we're going after the worst of the worst.”
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Just before noon, the team gathers in a parking garage in Denver as they discuss the plan for the day and the upcoming operation.
Within an hour, undercover officers nearby spot Medina-Arteaga leaving his apartment carrying an Arizona Iced Tea and a bowl of ramen noodles. They tackle him to the ground. A voice comes over the car radio saying, "Male's in custody."
A woman, who ICE identified as Yoli Medina-Arteaga, 25, is taken into custody too. ICE alleged she is an "illegal alien from Honduras who illegally entered the United States in Arizona on or about March 8, 2023."
Yoli has no criminal history in Colorado, according to a Denver7 Investigates records search. She's visibly distraught as agents put her in their car.
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“I think all officers have empathy," Guadian said. "You know, we serve the public, but we also have a responsibility to enforce the law. So, in her particular case, she was associating with a known trafficker of a controlled substance."
The two are placed in handcuffs and two separate police vehicles, and escorted back to ICE's processing center.
"We're not going to turn a blind eye to that, right? If we encounter someone that's illegally present during the course of our operations, we're going to take those people into custody," Guadian said.
Many of the ICE agents wear masks, which is something that has received criticism around the country. Guadian defended his agents' choice to wear a mask, saying that they are at greater risk because of their job and pushed back on the notion that his agents "signed up for this."
"Masking is not something that we choose to do, (but) something we have to do because our officers and agents are being doxxed and their families are being doxxed,” he said. "I think it's unfair to say that people's families are put at risk as part of their job. That's completely uncalled for.”
Near the end of the day, the team returns to the office. Now there's more detainees, including several new faces inside of the processing center. Throughout the day, buses from the ICE Detention Center in Aurora will come by and pick up the recent detainees.
Guadian said that these kinds of operations are normal and happen roughly once a day.
It's a big uptick compared to previous years, but Guadian believes it is sustainable.
"My officers are excited that they are finally able to enforce immigration law," he said.
He added that he hasn't seen this level of polarization surrounding ICE right now.
"This is unique. I haven't seen this temperature ... be this hot in my entire career," said Guadian when describing the polarizing opinions surrounding ICE right now.
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