Update: A September 15 New York Times story reports that stories of gun-toting Venezuelan migrants taking over an apartment building in Aurora, CO, are false. However, the story also reports:
- Regarding a viral video showing armed men storming an Aurora apartment building, the Times says, “The incident was reported as a connection to gang violence, particularly the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, though documentation was scarce.”
- The company that owns the apartments, CBZ, through its public relations agent, told the media that, “An apartment building and its owners in Aurora, Colorado have become the most recent victims of the Venezuelan Gang Tren de Aragua’s violence, which has taken over several communities in the Denver area. The residents and building owners of these properties have been left in a state of fear and chaos.”
- The Times story claims this is “a false story, fueled by real problems,” namely that the CBZ apartments have descended into squalor and the city has been fighting to get them cleaned up. The story quotes a resident as saying many there are squatters. The article also says Aurora officials have indicated there are “criminal elements” in the apartment buildings, but not widespread gang activity.
- Recently Aurora police arrested 10 Tren de Aragua gang members on an array of charges including felony menacing, attempted first-degree murder, assault, child abuse, and domestic abuse. In the Times story, there was no mention as to whether these gang members were residents of the Aurora apartments that received so much media attention; however, according to a police report, some of the crimes were committed at CBZ-owned Fitzsimons Place apartments, which the city of Aurora recently closed due to code violations.
Separately, the Aurora mayor and a council member issued a statement that included this comment about Tren de Aragua (TdA):
“As for the perception and reality of public safety in Aurora, please understand that issues experienced at a select few properties do not apply to the city as a whole or large portions of it. TdA has not “taken over” the city. The overstated claims fueled by social media and through select news organizations are simply not true. Again, TdA’s presence in Aurora is limited to specific properties, all of which the city has been addressing in various ways for months.”
Original story continues below.
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Aurora City Council Member Danielle Jurinsky is bringing national attention to the migrant gangs that are being welcomed by the Biden-Harris administration and their Denver Democrat allies.
“This is a problem that is not just a Denver Metro area problem … [it] stems from a failed southern border,” Jurinsky exclusively told Breitbart News on Thursday.
“This is not just happening in Aurora, Colorado, I cannot stress that enough. But we need to be getting other municipalities, other agencies to talk about this, because this is something that could potentially put a black eye on the organization or the city or the area that you represent,” she added.
A shocking video went viral showing armed men storming through the halls of an apartment building in Aurora.
Jurinsky said she is stepping up to bring national attention to the problems created by the Biden-Harris Venezuelan gangs that are wreaking havoc in her Aurora, Colorado, community and she wants solutions.
The councilwoman has been shining a light on rising crime in Aurora that appears to be caused by members of the dangerous Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang that has come into the community.
While council member Jurinsky is absolutely spearheading the revelation of this video nationally to help her city recover from these crimes, she also noted that the problem is nationwide, not just in Denver and Aurora.
“Not only has there been a rise in crime, but a rise in different kinds of crime we rarely saw before being reported,” she said, talking about shootings, robberies, intimidation, and other issues.
Jurinsky spoke of the shocking video recently released that showed armed men seen coursing through an Aurora apartment complex. The criminal element was recently removed from the building where the video was taken, and Jurinsky said she was the tip of the spear to get that accomplished.
“But I actually went in there and moved those people out. And that is why we were able to get that footage released yesterday, because they were out safely. Had they not been out and we had released that video footage, they most likely would have been killed.” she said adding that the residents would have been in grave danger if the video had come out before the gangs were evicted.
Because of all this, the council member says that many long-time residents are talking about leaving Aurora.
“We are seeing residents moving out and talking about moving away at an increased rate,” she added.
Jurinsky also noted that it was hard to separate the effect these migrant waves are having on Aurora’s property values because Bidenflation and interest rates have already buffeted the country’s housing and retail markets, but in Aurora’s case, the migrant issue is certainly not helpful.
While the negative effects on Aurora are unmistakable, Jurinsky has a particular locus for the blame.
“The problem is, though, that Denver is the problem here,” she said. “They hung a huge banner on their city hall saying, ‘We love migrants,’ they helped to invite all of this here. And Denver said, ‘We will not turn anybody away,’ and ‘No human is illegal,’ so, Denver is the problem. They are absolutely the problem here, and what is going on in Aurora is the spillage from what Denver has allowed.”
The council member also agreed that Denver is loudly but hypocritically virtue signaling about how welcoming they are to migrants even as they quietly tell migrants not to come and try to settle in Denver. And, perhaps worse, Denver is trying to shove some migrants into surrounding cities.
Jurinsky went on to say that she has stepped up about this story to finally get some solutions to the Biden-Harris immigration crisis.
“I hope that this will, first, encourage other folks to stop denying that this problem is here and that it exists, and, second, that we will start to get some action,” she said.
“I would like to see federal agents come into the Denver Metro area and get this gang out of here,” Jurinsky concluded.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated.
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