EDITORIAL: Crucial Facts About Venezuelan Gang Claims in Aurora Can’t Come From Trump, Coffman or Jurinsky

In the future, we will have learned a lot about how Aurora botched the Venezuelan immigrant disaster. But local, state, and federal authorities can already change course to stop the disaster.

Aurora — for generations a stronghold of pride and hope for all races and cultures of people from around the world — has tragically become the epicenter of a racial war against immigrants.

For weeks, a growing group of Republican extremists, led by Republican Assemblywoman Danielle Jurinsky, have been flooding the media with disinformation, exaggerations and fear-mongering, claiming that a notorious Venezuelan gang has taken over parts or all of Aurora.

Trusted representatives from the police, the city, the state and Congress have repeatedly said and demonstrated that it is a lie.

It is a lie concocted and spread by Republican extremists to promote an anti-immigration and white nationalist agenda, hoping to win over fearful or distracted voters with what amounts to domestic terrorism.

Do not be misled or fooled by this dangerous and cruel partisan plan by political leaders and complicit or clumsy media who promote this obvious cause.

All residents of Aurora must rely on trusted media for the facts in a crisis that threatens the lives and livelihoods of all residents of the city, region, and state.

All readers should take into account the following documented facts:
• As many as 40,000 Venezuelan immigrants have come to the Denver metropolitan area over the past two years after the governor of Texas and other officials there devised a way to bus immigrants seeking to cross the border to specific major cities in the country, including Denver.

• Denver was overwhelmed by the wave of migrants, and while state and federal officials provided some financial assistance to help manage the humanitarian crisis, it was never enough and is far from enough now. The financial and management burden fell primarily on Denver, Aurora, and those taxpayers.

• Many of these Venezuelan migrants are here legally under the Temporary Refugee Policy, or could be if the federal government made the current immigration policy enforceable and navigable.

• A key bipartisan congressional measure on immigration and border policy was rejected by Trump and his political allies in February as a presidential campaign ploy, further exacerbating the chaos at the borders and immigration.

• A portion of this 170-square-mile city in northwest Aurora has struggled with crime, law and poverty for decades, beginning in the 1960s when the city abandoned East Colfax Avenue as a downtown area.

• Three apartment complexes in the area have long been the subject of complaints from tenants and neighbors. These properties have been targeted by municipal code and health inspectors for more than two years, long before Venezuelan immigrants arrived in the area. These complexes are managed by the same out-of-state company that has faced similar health and safety complaints in other cities.

• The owner has told media and elected officials — without evidence or proof — that his properties became slums because Venezuelan gang members “took over” the complexes, terrorized residents and stole rent payments. Police and city officials have repeatedly disputed the claims, saying that current residents and preliminary investigations make it clear there has been criminal activity both connected and unrelated to gangs, and the owner’s claims are false.

• To date, 10 people have been arrested by Aurora or other law enforcement officials in the metropolitan area, accused of having ties to Venezuelan gangs and linked to a wide range of crimes in the metropolitan area.

• A so-called “investigation” into the health and safety problems at the Whispering Pines apartment complex was conducted by a law firm hired by executives of apartment owners. It was touted as a real investigation by some political officials, as well as some local and national media, but it is actually a letter sent to city officials that summarized similar claims made by previous owners of the troubled apartment complexes. City officials said the law firm and other executives remain “uncooperative” in getting police to conduct a real and credible investigation.

• Despite claims by Jurinsky and others, the police have never denied that there is Venezuelan gang activity, or any other gang problem, in the complexes and the area. Despite this, Jurisnky has repeatedly and falsely claimed that the police and city officials have covered up or downplayed the problem, and that some local media, including the sentryhave been complicit.

• On July 28, just days before the apartment crisis broke out, Jurinsky made a series of debunked claims on her Facebook page after a massive gathering of people in a shopping mall parking lot in Aurora led to a Sunday night conundrum. The flash mob was the result of Venezuelan immigrants expecting Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro to be removed from office by voters. Jusinsky claimed that police lost control of the event and that a police car was “shot at.” Police have repeatedly denied both claims. Jurinsky said the event was a sign of why the 2024 election was crucial to choosing candidates based on border and immigration policies.

• Since then, Jurinsky has been at the forefront of local and national media stories, continually insisting, without facts or arguments, that parts of Aurora have been “taken over” by Venezuelan gangs, creating widespread fear among immigrants, Latinos and others as they have become direct or indirect targets of demonization.

• Trump has capitalized on the plan and further amplified it, now falsely claiming that the entire city has been overrun and paralyzed by Venezuelan gangs.

• Mayor Mike Coffman has both promoted and challenged the Venezuelan gang fiction, sometimes on different TV news programs, even on the same day, leaving everyone confused about what he meant and believed.

• Jurinsky has now also attempted to walk back some of her claims, saying that while she maintains, without merit, that “some” areas of the city and “some” apartment complexes have been overrun by gangs and remain under their control, she has not gone as far as Trump to say that “all” of Aurora has been overtaken. Her multiple TV appearances with far-right FoxNews news personalities, which can be easily found at FoxNews.com, are unequivocal.

The path forward is clear. No one can trust Coffman or Jurinsky to be a credible spokesperson for Aurora. Aurora hired a new police chief last week and, along with a city manager spokesperson, should be the only official voice in this crisis.

There are 11 voting members on Aurora’s city council, who answer to the city’s nearly 400,000 residents. The city needs only six votes of reason to agree to take control of this self-inflicted catastrophe, giving Jurinsky and Coffman the freedom to say whatever they want, but not on behalf of Aurora’s government and its citizens.

Aurora residents can call Access Aurora at 303-739-7000 and email [email protected] to reach out to their city representatives and push the council toward accountability and reality.

Related