Donald Trump's border czar on Thursday blamed news media leaks for hindering a large-scale operation in a Denver suburb the president has held up in his efforts to link violent crime with immigration.

Officers from several U.S. federal agencies searched for illegal immigrants on Wednesday in Aurora, the Colorado city with a large migrant population where President Donald Trump laid out his immigration policies during his campaign.

President Donald Trump has quickly mobilized wide swaths of the federal government to arrest and detain undocumented immigrants in the United States, part of a broader strategy to amass a large enforcement machine.

The federal lawsuit is the first by Trump's Justice Department against states or municipalities that have sanctuary city policies.