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.***
Aurora, Colorado, officials are asking the courts to let them evict Venezuelan migrant gangs from apartment buildings, even as Democrat Gov. Jared Polis keeps dismissing video reports of gang takeovers.
Only two days ago, Polis and his spokespeople were telling Americans to ignore their lying eyes concerning video of armed gangs in Aurora apartment buildings.
The governor’s spokesman told the media that the reports of armed members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua were a figment of Aurora council member Danielle Jurinsky’s imagination.
The spokesman also slammed local Aurora officials, adding that Polis “really hopes that the city council members in charge stop trashing their own city when they are supposed to keep it safe.”
But a source in the Department of Homeland Security confirmed Friday that the armed men seen in the viral video are members of the Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua, according to NewsNation.
Other evidence also belies the governor’s lack of concern. For instance, owners of some of the buildings told Fox News that migrants had flooded into their buildings and crime has been on the uptick ever since.
Fox News also reported that the Aurora city attorney’s office is set to ask a judge to declare the properties a “criminal nuisance.”
“This will require a municipal judge to issue the order with the goal of getting these properties back under the control of the property owners,” Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said in a social media post:
On Sunday, Polis tried to claim that Vice President Harris supports building a wall on the southern border with Mexico.
“Look, this is another issue that as it gets into the public discourse is very misleading. Democrats in general, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, you know, Barack Obama, have always been supportive of building barriers and walls for certain parts of the border as part of a comprehensive border strategy,” Polis said Sunday on ABC’s This Week.
However, the claim that Harris supports border wall construction is less than convincing. Harris has tied her support of any such support to passage of the repeatedly failed Democrat border bill called the “Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act.” It is unlikely this bill would ever pass in any form, so her support of the wall is meaningless in this case.
Further, she has made public statements against the construction of a border wall.
Meanwhile, some citizens in Aurora are organizing to try and get ahead of the criminal gangs.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated.
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