Red counties fight blue state immigration policies as migrant gangs take over suburbs

As Colorado grapples with rising gang violence due to illegal immigration, six counties are suing the state over a law they say hampers efforts to tackle immigrant crime.

Those counties are fighting a state law that prohibits local law enforcement from communicating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The problem is boiling over in the region, as at least one Denver suburb sees an unprecedented influx of transnational gang activity and armed migrants were recently seen taking over an apartment complex.

The counties of El Paso, Elbert, Garfield, Mesa and Rio Blanco joined Douglas County in April in a lawsuit against the state and its governor, alleging that HB119-1124, which prohibits local governments from cooperating with the federal government on immigration enforcement, violates the state constitution and the U.S. Supremacy Clause, which prohibits state laws from violating federal law.

“Our local law enforcement would like to have the ability to communicate with local immigration officials,” said Douglas County Commissioner Abe Laydon. “We’ve been made aware that there’s definitely been an increase in property crimes, assaults, human trafficking, and it’s specific issues with the cartels coming out of Venezuela.”

“(Colorado) has left us feeling like we don’t have the resources we need, and that’s extremely frustrating,” said El Paso County Commissioner Carrie Geitner.

SANCTUARY CITY policy pushes violent migrant gangs to the suburbs: ‘It’s a nationwide problem’

In 2019, the bill passed the state House of Representatives in a 36-28 vote, with nearly all Republican delegates voting against it. Several Democrats also opposed the bill.

In May of that year, the bill passed the state Senate on a party-line vote of 20-15, with one Democrat also opposing it.

The counties also oppose HB23-1100, which would prohibit local governments from entering into intergovernmental agreements with ICE or any other federal agency to circumvent the law. The law was passed after nearby Teller County, which is not involved in the lawsuit, entered into a 287(g) agreement with ICE to hold apprehended migrants there. A Colorado appeals court ruled that the practice is illegal under state law.

“Before we even decided to file this lawsuit, we’ve been encouraging Denver to consider what they might attract to our area,” Geitner told Fox News Digital. “It’s a huge concern. We’ve been seeing it slowly come out and we’ve been raising alarm bells for the last couple of years.”

Officials in Aurora, a city in Douglas County nine miles east of Denver, previously told Fox News Digital that the notorious Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua had gained a strong foothold in their community and had put “entire apartment complexes under gang control.”

A few days later, a video went viral showing armed gang members storming an apartment complex in Aurora, just before a shooting took place in the parking lot.

AFTER VIDEO OF ARMED VENEZUELAN GANG SHARED BY LOCAL OFFICIAL GOES VIRAL, CITY OF COLORADO TAKES ACTION

These images from a CBP intelligence bulletin show Tren De Aragua’s tattoos and identification information.

“Parts of the city are completely under the control of this gang. The local media is downplaying it,” said Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky. “I believe people’s lives are being played with. … Nothing is being done to help the American citizens who are trapped under the control of this gang.”

The handful of red counties suing Colorado do not share the sanctuary city policies that brought more than 40,000 migrants to Denver, and several have enacted their own laws in an attempt to barricade themselves against expanding migrant populations. Douglas County, for example, banned off-scheduled buses from stopping in its community, threatening each bus with a fine of up to $1,000.

“We just think it makes no sense that one law enforcement agency can’t cooperate with another law enforcement agency, but then we’re limited in our ability to cooperate on immigration matters,” El Paso County Commissioner Stan VanderWerf said of his county’s decision to join the lawsuit.

AURORA POLICE RESPOND TO ALLEGED PRESENCE OF VENEZUELAN GANG IN APARTMENTS: ‘THEY DIDN’T TAKE OVER’

Suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang have taken over an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado, and are demanding rent in exchange for “protection.” (Edward Romero/Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky)

“We worked with them for decades and decades and decades to make a community safer. Then this law was passed and it just doesn’t make sense to us — we don’t think it’s appropriate.”

VanderWerf told Fox News Digital that in one case, a man arrested on suspicion of child abuse turned out to be an illegal immigrant.

“Previously, they would communicate with ICE and ICE would issue an arrest warrant. Then we would hold that person until ICE could come to our jail and they could pick him up,” VanderWerf said.

“Instead, (this person) went to a hearing and a judge set bail. This person posted that bail and was then released. He disappeared. We have no idea where that person is. That person is no longer involved with law enforcement.”

Geitner told Fox News Digital that while it’s “frustrating” to see Aurora’s gang problem in national headlines after years of warning Denver about these kinds of outcomes, it’s also “encouraging” that people are getting to see “what’s going on.”

Aurora, with a population of about 390,000, has become home to the Tren de Aragua gang in Colorado, officials said. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

“The local media doesn’t want to cover much of what’s happening (with migrant crime),” she said. “We have local media that still doesn’t acknowledge the problems that have been created.

“It’s incredibly frustrating to be in a state where our state government is completely ignoring reality. We’ve told our state government that this is very problematic. I hope they take note. I don’t have a lot of confidence in them. We see that the leaders in our state are unwilling to accept reality.”

“People need to know what’s happening, they need to know the effects of these policies. We’re asking our states, we’re asking our federal government, please fix the border, please fix the problem,” Geitner said, adding that she “never thought we would be having a discussion about the effects of an open border in our community” when she took office in 2018.

Democratic Gov. Jared Polis could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit.

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Chris Swecker, the former director of the FBI Criminal Investigation Divisionpreviously told Fox News Digital that this influx of gang members was “predictable and preventable” and that federal law enforcement agencies would be needed to combat it.

“This is where federal agencies should get involved,” he added. “The agency needs to get involved with ATF and DEA, share their intelligence and approach this as an international crime problem.”