Claims of Venezuelan gang activity enliven Republican campaign rally in Aurora

Immigration policy and border control were two of the main topics discussed Thursday during what was billed as a meeting and conversation with Republican members of Congress and candidates.

It was more of a protest than a conversation.

The city of Aurora has been in the national news for over a week amid allegations that members of a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, have been targeting residents.

The Republicans who headlined the event — Colorado Reps. Lauren Boebert and Greg Lopez, and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas — used the issue to bash President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Gov. Jared Polis and the district’s Democratic Rep. Jason Crow. They also campaigned for the GOP candidate seeking to unseat Crow, John Fabbricatore.

Fabbricatore is the former Denver field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He brought up recent Colorado laws aimed at making the state more friendly to immigrants, regardless of their legal status. In particular, he highlighted a state policy that limits the ability of local law enforcement to cooperate with immigration authorities.

“I’ve been fighting against sanctuary policies in this state for a long time,” he said. “And you know what the governor of this state says, ‘We’re not a sanctuary state.’ I’ve been able to write laws year after year since 2013 that make this state a sanctuary state.”

According to Fabbricatore’s team, about 150 people attended the campaign event at JJ’s Place, a bar on the southern edge of Aurora owned by City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky, who has been featured in conservative media outlets, claiming that parts of Aurora are experiencing a “full-blown gang takeover.”

Jurinsky was greeted with applause at the event and called on those present who live in the 6th district to support Fabbricatore.

“It’s going to take the whole town — the whole town — to get this man elected, but it’s a matter of life and death right now, across the country, but certainly for the city of Aurora,” Jurinsky said.

Residents of the properties at the center of the controversy have told reporters that they are less concerned about gangs than about their landlords, who they say have allowed their homes to fall into disrepair.

Crow claims his opponents are playing politics with the situation

Rep. Jason Crow paints a very different picture of what’s happening in the largest city in his district.

He said he has had extensive conversations with local and federal law enforcement and city officials and that “there is no evidence of gang takeovers of specific apartment complexes or extortion rings.”

“We have isolated incidents of gang activity that are being addressed by federal and local law enforcement and the Metro Gang Task Force,” Crow continued. “They’re doing exactly what law enforcement is supposed to be doing. And they’re addressing it with focus and with intent. And I’ve spoken with them and I’m confident that they’ll continue to do that.”

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

Crow blamed the media frenzy “on a handful of politicians who decided to lie and spin this issue into something it isn’t for political purposes in an election year and to get clicks on Twitter and get into the conservative media.”

He said the situation makes it harder to provide services to immigrants and refugees in Aurora, makes housing insecurity in general and makes it difficult to address legitimate law enforcement issues the community has struggled with for years.

Republicans urge ‘aggressive arrest, detention and deportation’

However, the three Republicans in Colorado’s congressional delegation have made their own claims about what’s happening in the city.

Reps. Boebert, Lopez and Doug Lamborn recently wrote to DHS and ICE officials, as well as Gov. Polis, about the situation.

They questioned what role DHS played in bringing new immigrants to Colorado (during the surge in new arrivals over the past year, many arrived on buses registered by the Texas governor), what knowledge DHS had of gangs in Aurora, and what state and local policies hinder cooperation between federal agencies and local communities “to remove illegal aliens and TdA gang members.”

The joint request follows Lopez’s own letter to DHS asking for a directive for ICE to “aggressively arrest, detain and deport all members of Tren de Aragua or other known foreign criminal gangs” in the state. He is also expected to introduce legislation this fall that would force DHS to detain migrants who law enforcement knows have gang ties, according to Fox News.

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

During Thursday’s campaign event, Lopez claimed that Hispanic Americans want the border closed.

“It’s time to close these borders. It’s time to make sure we get these wild dogs… I call them wild dogs because look what they do. They go around, they cause chaos, and if we allow them to take over a certain area, they start to reproduce and they spread,” he told the crowd.

According to a Stanford University study, immigrants are 60 percent less likely to end up in prison than U.S.-born citizens. Other research has found no correlation between the number of illegal residents in a community and its crime rate.

After Lopez, Boebert took the microphone and spoke about her background as an Aurora resident, and how she believes the city has “taken a turn for the worse.”

“There’s so much we’re working on in Congress to help states like ours, but ultimately it comes from the top down. This is a sanctuary state, and now red cities like Aurora are being negatively impacted by those policies,” Boebert said. “This is un-American and it’s unsafe.”

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

That feeling was further emphasized by Fabbricatore, who has lived in Aurora since 1998.

“I’ve seen Aurora grow and I’ve seen what it’s capable of. But we also have a problem in Aurora now with crime and it’s illegal immigrant crime that we’re seeing.”

On Thursday, two national hardliners on immigration joined the slate of speakers: Thomas Homan, who served as acting head of ICE under former President Donald Trump, and Texas Rep. Chip Roy. Roy took particular aim at his congressional colleague, Rep. Crow.

“Look, I can’t possibly tell you how bad he is in terms of voting,” Roy said. “Your voting should matter. What you do should matter.”

Roy highlighted Crow’s voting record against a number of Republican immigration measures, including the border security bill, HR 2, and the SAVE Act, which requires proof of citizenship to vote. He also emphasized his opposition to efforts to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkis.

The crowd at the bar was strongly supportive of Fabbricatore on Thursday, even though everyone CPR News spoke to said they live outside the district and therefore couldn’t vote for him.

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

Alicia Garcia questions why local authorities aren’t taking tougher action in Aurora.

“I honestly feel like there’s something behind the scenes that they don’t want us to understand. I think the government has a point because I don’t understand why we have the National Guard, SWAT, all these things going on and these resources here in Colorado and they’re not doing anything,” Garcia said.

Garcia, a staunch gun rights activist, says she doesn’t blame people for wanting to come to America, “but at the same time, you can’t outdo people by robbing, murdering, killing and destroying innocent lives. And I think we need to put a hard stop to that. And I think this shouldn’t be a bipartisan issue anymore.”

Caitlyn Kim of CPR contributed to this report.