Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Friday that a town in Colorado was overrun with Venezuelan gang members after a video from an apartment building went viral—and the state’s governor’s office told Newsweek it’s ready to lend a hand in the matter.
The comments, made at a rally, came after the Mayor of Aurora Mike Coffman said Thursday that two apartment buildings had been overtaken by migrants.
“This is an organized criminal effort. Whether it’s trend, a drug war, that remains to be seen,” Coffman told Fox News, after a video of armed gang members went viral.
On Friday, the city announced that it was seeking a court order to clear the apartments by declaring them a “criminal nuisance”.
An aerial view of Aurora, Colorado, which has reportedly seen members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua move into apartment buildings, bringing violence and uncertainty for residents.
Getty Images
That criminal nuisance was reportedly the Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua (TdA), who were operating in the area.
The video in question showed men with assault rifles busting down doors of an apartment unit in the city.
Aurora’s police department said Thursday that it had set up a special task force to address concerns about the Venezuelan gang members and other criminal activity linked to migrants in the area.
“We are aware that components of TdA are operating in Aurora. APD has been increasingly collecting evidence to show the gang is connected to crimes in the area,” the department said.
The TdA began as a prison gang in Aragua, Venezuela, before expanding rapidly in recent years, according to the U.S. Department of State, focusing on human trafficking and other abuses of desperate migrants.
The gang is accused of smuggling women and girls for sexual exploitation, killing them if they try to escape.
Members of that group are now allegedly operating in Aurora, with the mayor blaming federal policies for allowing the situation to develop—an idea backed up by Donald Trump.
“These stupid people that we have leading our country are allowing these people, these criminals to come into our country, and we’ve got to get them the hell out of here,” Trump told a rally in Pennsylvania on Friday.
Aurora PD said it believed the influence of TdA was isolated to the buildings in question, adding that it was working with federal and state partners, including the DEA.
Newsweek reached out to the DEA for further comment Friday, with the agency referring to comments made on Denver 7 by its Field Division Special Agent in Charge for Rocky Mountain, Jonathan Pullen.
“It is not appropriate for DEA to offer any additional comments on the organization’s role or presence in the region due to the ongoing, active investigative work being conducted by our agents and law enforcement partners,” Pullen said.
Mayor Coffman said in a post on Facebook Friday that the city was waiting for a municipal judge to issue a court order, which would then give back control to property owners.
“The problems associated with Venezuelan gang activity has been isolated to properties that are all under the same out-of-state ownership whose problems with code violations and criminal activity preceded the migrant crisis,” the mayor said.
“I strongly believe that the best course of action is to shut these building down and make sure that this never happens again.”
The Denver Gazette reported that, according to residents of the building, the real managers disappeared when violence began.
When speaking to Fox News earlier this week, the mayor, a Republican, said the gang’s presence was the result of “failed policy” at the southwest border, as well as being close to Denver, a sanctuary city.
Newsweek reached out to the mayor’s office Friday for further comment, as well as the building’s management company, CBZ Management.
A spokesperson for Colorado’s Democratic Governor, Jared Polis, told Newsweek on Friday that the state had been “ready for weeks” to back up any police operation to tackle the problem.
“Colorado is a zero-tolerance state for illegal activity, taking over buildings has no place in Colorado, and the Governor believes that the city of Aurora shares this basic value and will enforce the law,” the spokesperson said.
“Over the last month, Governor Polis has been in regular contact with the City of Aurora and the Aurora Police Department and has offered all state assistance to support their efforts if requested.”
In July, the Biden administration sanctioned the gang, while also offering a reward totaling $12 million for any information that led to the capture and/or conviction of multiple leaders of the group.
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