Migrant gangs have control over buildings

Mayor Mike Coffman (R), the mayor of Aurora, Colorado, spoke to Fox News on Thursday about reports that a violent Venezuelan gang has taken over apartment complexes in his city. Local police said they could not confirm the reports.

“Mayor, thank you for coming with us. It seems like it’s hard to even get any confirmation on the details of what’s happening there. First of all, can you confirm if this gang has taken over these buildings in Aurora?” the presenter asked Sandra Smit.

“So there are several buildings that are actually under the same ownership, outside of state ownership, that have fallen into the hands of these Venezuelan gangs,” Coffman responded, adding:

I’m trying to go back and do the investigation of how there is a concentration of Venezuelans in these, these three buildings. Somebody put them there and somebody funded it. Whether it’s the federal government or not, we’re trying to find out who.

These gangs are apparently attracted to places where there are a lot of Venezuelan migrants. And so they have basically pushed the property management out through intimidation and then collected the rent. We have now, or have had, it’s still ongoing, operations with a task force of local law enforcement, state law enforcement partners, and federal law enforcement partners, to get them out. And arrests have been made, but these operations are still ongoing.
Smith continued, “Now that the arrests have been made, are these confirmed gang members?”

“You know, they, this is an organized criminal effort. Whether it’s Tren de Aragua, that remains to be seen, but it really doesn’t matter. I mean, if they’re, you know, Venezuelan migrants in their, in their, committing crime in an organized manner,” Coffman responded.

“Understood. Okay, so you can confirm that they, this Venezuelan gang, did indeed take over at least a couple of the buildings. You’re saying at least two out of three. And what I just heard from you is that you don’t know how they got there, and you even suggested that they may have been sent there by federal officials. I heard you suggest. I mean, do you have any reason to believe that’s the case?” Smith pressed.

“So here’s a problem. I think we’re the victim of a failed policy at the southern border because what you have is Venezuelan is not working, according to my law enforcement, Venezuela is not cooperating with the United States to share criminal histories,” Coffman responded, adding:

You’ve seen a third of the country leave. You’ve had these huge waves of migrants coming across the border, many of whom crossed the border illegally, were arrested, asked for political asylum, were not adequately screened, and were released into the country. The city of Aurora. We’ve done everything we can to keep them out of the city, quite frankly, because this is not our problem. This is a federal problem.

This is a federally-driven problem. But what I think we’re trying to figure out, and what I believe has happened, is that federal agencies have partnered with some of our local nonprofits, and put them there. Now, most of these people are very good, good people. But there is a criminal element that, from what I understand, what law enforcement often follows, is looking to exploit them within their own immigrant community. And so we believe that’s happening. Now, now we’re the 54th largest city in America with over 400,000 residents. These are just a few apartment complexes. But despite that, I’m not going to turn any part of this city over to a criminal element.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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