Colorado lawmakers clash over allegations of Venezuelan gang violence

DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado leaders from both sides of the political spectrum are weighing in on the headlines the city of Aurora has been making for weeks over allegations of Venezuelan gang violence. The two sides appear to disagree.

On Friday, controversial Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, a Republican representative from Colorado’s 3rd District, held a roundtable in Aurora to discuss the potential threat to the city.

“Gangs are present in these complex buildings, call it and classify it as a takeover whatever you want. If they have the keys, if they’re kicking in doors and going into other rooms, attacking people, stabbing people, making threats, extorting, I would consider that a takeover,” Boebert said.

Congressman Jason Crow, a Democrat who represents Colorado’s 6th District, pushed back against Boebert’s statements, saying he believes a “takeover” is overblown and misrepresents the scale of the problem. He also believes local neighborhood gangs remain the biggest threat.

He said he has had many conversations with city officials and local and federal law enforcement, but there is no evidence to support the claim that “apartments are being taken over by gangs.”

According to him, the misrepresentations about crime and gang takeovers only make it harder for the police to do their job. It also makes it harder for tenants who have to deal with poor living conditions to find suitable housing.

“This misrepresentation that there was a gang takeover in Aurora is simply not true,” Crow said.

He is keen to set the record straight about what is happening in the largest city in his district, and acknowledges that there have been isolated incidents involving gangs.

“…but it’s not nearly as bad as the pervasive terror that some people outside our community would have you believe,” Crow said.

Crow: Handful of politicians twisted issue into something new

Crow said a handful of politicians have twisted the problem of transnational gang violence into something it isn’t. He said the poor living conditions in some complexes date back 18 months and are the result of absentee out-of-state landlords who aren’t responsive to tenants’ needs.

“This was a problem that these tenants had been dealing with for over a year,” Crow said. “Exposed wiring, unsafe black mold, roofs that were collapsing and leaking.”

However, Republicans in Colorado’s congressional delegation have bolstered their claims about what is happening.

“Certainly, maybe the entire gang isn’t occupying this building room by room, but there are places where they are being occupied and used for drug use, bribery, extortion, and even trafficking of adults and children, it appears,” Boebert said.

“One of the things that really bothers me about this is the people who come here and talk about these foreign gangs,” Crow said. “These are people who say nothing about gun violence in our schools, nothing about affordable housing, nothing about local neighborhood gang problems that the Metro Gang Task Force and their organization and local law enforcement that I have supported for years have to deal with.

Crow said there is a longstanding problem with safe and affordable housing for immigrants and refugees. He said he, along with members of the Federal Congressional Delegation, has been working to secure emergency funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help service providers, local cities and nonprofits deal with the large influx of immigrants.

Crow says he also pushed for direct funding for housing assistance through Congress.