Aurora, Colorado – In a grocery store parking lot on a near-freezing afternoon, the man held up a cardboard sign identifying himself as an immigrant and pleading for help. Next to him, a woman and at least one small child sat on the ground, shoulders hunched against the biting wind.
For people living in Aurora and the greater Denver area, such sights have become ubiquitous. Immigrants living on the streets are trying to get rich by asking for money, running at stopped cars at intersections with squeegees, and washing windshields.
Little known to the average Aurora resident, the violent gang crime that has made this city of about 400,000 people nationally famous.
“We've seen extortion, we've seen murder, we've seen kidnapping,” said John Fabricatore, former ICE field office director in the Denver area, referring to crimes allegedly linked to the Venezuelan gang Torren de Aragua. spoke.
These problems are “a direct result of what's happened at the border over the past four years, and also about allowing people into the country who haven't been tested. We don't know who they are. “And now more gang members are invading the border” community, Fabricatore added.
In August 2024, a video of gang members allegedly carrying guns inside an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado went viral. Local media reported this week that a city judge ordered the controversial apartment complex to be closed, citing “non-trivial violent and property crimes.” (Courtesy of Edward Romero)
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a viral video An incident in August last year in which Venezuelan gang members allegedly walked through an apartment complex in Aurora while carrying a gun put a spotlight on immigrants in the Denver area. President-elect Donald Trump visited the city during his re-election campaign last fall and detailed his “Operation Aurora.”
At a rally on October 11, President Trump said, “After taking office, I will conduct Operation Aurora at the federal level to expedite the elimination of these brutal gangs.'' He said he would use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to “target and dismantle every immigrant criminal network operating on American soil.”
Local police initially denied that gang members had “taken over” the Edge of Raleigh Apartments, but local outlet reported this week that a judge granted the city an emergency order to close the 60-unit complex. The city describes the complex as a “center of unmitigated violent crime and property crime,” citing the kidnapping and torture of an immigrant couple at the complex by suspected TdA members in December.
Nine men were charged this week in connection with the crime.
A panoramic view of the apartments at 12th and Dallas on Dec. 17, 2024, the day after the home invasion and kidnapping was reported. Police initially arrested 19 suspects. The three were later released after investigators determined they were not involved in any crime, police said. Other suspects who have not yet been charged are in ICE custody. (Fox News Digital)
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The arrest comes on the heels of a blistering op-ed by Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman accusing the Denver mayor of “using two nonprofit organizations as cover” to drop off migrants and obstruct Aurora's efforts to count migrants. It was held on. It was left in the city.
“Aurora is suffering a national embarrassment that could tarnish our city's image and have long-term economic consequences,” said Coffman, a Republican. “As the mayor of Aurora, I call on Mayor Mike Johnston to be transparent and tell the truth about what he has done.”
A spokesperson for Johnston's office previously told Fox News Digital that “Denver has not directed any nonprofit or agency to place new employees in Aurora.”
Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain declined to be interviewed for this article. Mayor Coffman's office did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.
Fabricatore said both mayors were guilty of “trying to ignore” the issue of illegal immigration, especially when TdA first entered the community.
“There's a huge lack of communication between Aurora and Denver,” he said. “Both mayors need to come forward and admit that we have a criminal, illegal alien problem, we have a gang problem, and that's something that needs to be addressed.”
John Fabricatore speaks with FOX News Digital on January 8, 2025 in Aurora, Colorado. (Hannah Rae Lambert/Fox News Digital)
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Fabricatore praised President Trump's appointment of former acting ICE Director Tom Homan as “border czar,” calling Homan a “cop's cop” and saying that federal agents have committed “criminal misconduct.” He predicted that it would be possible to carry out “targeted crackdowns'' against foreigners.
Aurora residents Fox News Digital spoke to broadly said they felt safe in the city and were not personally aware of any gang problems.
Al, who moved to Aurora from Chicago four years ago, said crime in Colorado is “incomparable.”
“I know a lot of people are complaining about the gang problem, but personally I've never even noticed,” he said. “The only real issue I feel here is that we have a very large homeless population, and I feel sympathy for them.”
Overall crime in the city of about 400,000 people fell slightly in the first eight months of 2024 compared to the previous year, the analysis said. Local station Denver7 Found it. According to police data, the number of gang-related assaults jumped 33% compared to 2023, but the five-year average of reported crimes saw the number of such assaults drop significantly from 513 to 221. It is shown that
Local residents were divided on whether to support President Trump's promised mass deportations.
“If they entered the country illegally, they need to go back and enter the country the right way,” Roosevelt told Fox News Digital.
Roosevelt and Clarence spoke to FOX News Digital on January 8, 2025 in Aurora, Colorado. (Alba Cuevas-Fantauzzi/Fox News Digital)
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But Clarence, a native of Memphis, Tennessee, was concerned about the impact on immigrants who have lived in the area for decades.
“These people [have] I've been here a long time,'' he said, “How are you going to get these people out of my house? I don't know. They've been here longer than I have.''
Roberts barely paused, suggesting instead that ICE “deport Trump.”
President Trump has previously said his priority is removing illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, but that his administration is prepared to target law-abiding immigrants after that.
