By Hannah Davis
FAIR
In Aurora, Colorado, surveillance footage from an apartment complex showed purported members of the dangerous and deadly Venezuelan transnational criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, breaking down doors while brandishing assault rifles. However, residents and local leaders are in sharp disagreement about the extent to which Tren de Aragua is operating in the apartment complex seen in the viral video. Even local leaders seem to disagree among themselves about the extent of the problem.
Aurora’s Mayor, Mike Coffman, was at first outspoken about the violence in the apartment complex. In an interview with Fox News on August 29, he confirmed two buildings in the complex had been taken over by gangs who had pushed out the landlord. “So there are several buildings, actually under the same ownership, out-of-state ownership, that have fallen to these Venezuelan gangs.” But Coffman then added that it was uncertain that the gang violence was committed by members of Tren de Aragua. He said whether it’s Tren de Aragua or other Venezuelans working together, it was an “organized criminal enterprise.” According to Coffman, these gang members had pushed out the property owners through intimidation and had started collecting the rents. Coffman said Venezuelan gang members are attracted to areas where there are already clusters of Venezuelan migrants, who they exploit. “I think we’re the victim of a failed policy at the southern border,” he said.
However, the same day, Mayor Coffman was more measured during an interview with the local NBC affiliate. He described the current concerns about Tren de Aragua as “hysteria.” “It’s overwhelming our 911 system, or our emergency call center, and so it’s actually hurting our ability to respond to crime,” Coffman said. “I would hope people would not do that. I think we’re in some sort of environment of hysteria right now over this. It’s a real issue. It’s being dealt with. It’s isolated.”
Similarly, in a local television interview on September 3, Mayor Coffman tried to thread the needle. Coffman said the reality is that “there have been some violent incidents at the property that we are fully aware of…” When asked if he could confirm Tren de Aragua activity at the apartment complex, he responded, “I think there is gang activity, but whether it is Tren de Aragua, I don’t know.” Coffman added, however, that the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) had confirmed Tren de Aragua activity in the area. “I’m trying to be realistic on how I portray this, but I am worried that there is a tendency, inherently, to exaggerate and to say this incident that’s isolated to three buildings under the same ownership with the same people — concentration of Venezuelan migrants — is the city of Aurora, that the entire city is unsafe. And that narrative isn’t true, and that’s a destructive narrative to the economic health of this city,” Coffman said.
In response to the growing national media attention, the City of Aurora released a statement on September 4, claiming that the viral video was “misleading” and that the gang’s presence was “small.” It reads: “Yes, we are concerned that there is a small Tren de Aragua (TdA) presence in Aurora and we have been taking it seriously. We have responded. We have made arrests. We will continue to make arrests. We will continue to address the problems that the absentee, out-of-state owners of these properties have allowed to fester unchecked. Aurora will aggressively pursue all actions available under city code and criminal statute.”
Individual city council members have also downplayed the reports of Tren de Aragua the Aurora apartment complex. Councilwomen Stephanie Hancock and Alison Coombs suggested the threat was exaggerated by the media. “Those stories are really overblown. If you didn’t live here, you would swear we were being taken over by a gang and Aurora was under siege,” Hancock told The Denver Post. “That’s simply not true.”
Meanwhile, Aurora Interim Police Chief Heather Morris said gang members had not “taken over” the apartment complex seen in the viral video. Police, however, did confirm that a man pictured in the video is a documented member of Tren de Aragua and that he is currently being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). News Nation reports that sources at Homeland Security have, in fact, confirmed that multiple men in the video are Tren de Aragua Members. Aurora Police said they have so far linked 10 people in the Aurora area to Tren de Aragua and arrested six of them, including suspects in a July attempted homicide.
The Aurora Police, however, released two of the suspected Tren de Aragua members on bond, despite the fact that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) wanted to assume custody of them. City Council Member Danielle Jurinsky criticized the Aurora Police Department. “At some point, the city of Aurora and the state of Colorado have got to get serious about this. This is just a shame. I’d like to know what the Aurora PD has planned to monitor these two now they’ve been released on bond,” said Jurinsky.
Due to the gang presence at the apartment complex, some residents have decided to move. Cindy and Edward Romero called it a “nightmare,” showing reporters a series of locks fixed to their doors. “Every day when we come home, we have to do this every time we go outside and take out the garbage. Every time we go to bed at night. We have to keep like this so that nobody can kick in the door.”
Residents of the neighborhood shared similar fears about gang activity in the apartment complex. Independent investigative journalist Tyler Oliveira traveled to the apartment complex and interviewed its residents, the large majority of whom are Venezuelan migrants. However, many Venezuelans either denied any problems or declined to speak out of fear for their safety. Frequently, the answer to Oliveira’s questions was, “I don’t know. I work all day, come home, and go to sleep early.” In contrast, Americans living in and around the complex stated that the area had become unsafe, especially at night. Numerous residents said they heard gunshots on a regular basis, expressing concerns that the gang had created a third-world atmosphere. One resident said the city should tear down the complex altogether.
Meanwhile, former head of the Denver region’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office, John Fabbricatore, criticized local law enforcement for downplaying the situation. He remarked, “It’s become increasingly clear that certain city officials, including the Aurora Police Department, have downplayed or ignored the criminal activities affecting many neighborhoods in North Aurora. Notably, illegal immigrant gang activities have been present in specific apartment complexes throughout Aurora, yet these issues have been understated for what appear to be ideological reasons.”
Despite the attempts of local leaders to downplay the threat, there is growing evidence that gang members are operating in the apartment complex. A Denver law firm hired to look into the Tren de Aragua gang found that it began taking over Colorado apartment complexes in late 2023. The law firm said it has a confidential report where former U.S. Attorney T. Markus Funk stated, “The evidence we have reviewed indicates that gang members are engaging in flagrant trespass violations, assaults and battery, human trafficking and sexual abuse of minors, unlawful firearms possession, extortion, and other criminal activities, often targeting vulnerable Venezuelan and other immigrant populations.”
That confidential report also revealed that members of Tren de Aragua have threatened and attempted to kill apartment complex management, stabbed a resident for refusing to pay rent to a gang member, and forcefully removed tenants so other Venezuelans could occupy their rooms. While Aurora Police spokesperson Joe Moylan confirms that the department has “received numerous complaints and allegations about stolen rent from residents at all three CBZ complexes” he said, “to date, we have not established probable cause to make any arrests on those claims.”
Unlike neighboring Denver, which has more migrants per capita than any other city in the nation, Aurora is not a sanctuary for illegal aliens. In fact, in February, the Aurora City Council passed a resolution 7-3 emphatically stating that it will not provide resources and support to migrants or others brought into the community from neighboring cities. However, Denver’s problems are spilling over into Aurora with Mayor Coffman claiming that Aurora has now been “sucked into the issue” and is “a victim” of federal policy and nearby Denver’s sanctuary city policy.
Aurora is already taking legal action against the property manager, filing 80 charges against him for “years of neglecting properties and numerous code violations” after a different Aurora property managed by his company was shut down as uninhabitable. And like the apartment complex featured in the viral video, there were allegations that Tren de Aragua had taken over the building. The New York Post now reports that the property manager has agreed to sell or lease the property. Its residents were evicted in mid-August.
More than 1,000 Tren de Aragua gang members have already infiltrated the United States. The gang has become more brazen and organized and it has begun to establish a foothold in cities like Denver. With Tren de Aragua taking full advantage of the Biden-Harris open borders policies and the lack of U.S. government access to Venezuela’s criminal databases, the numbers of gang members entering the U.S. is likely to grow significantly and could pose a significant danger to all American communities.
