Residents of a Denver suburb are fed up with the financial strain and crime caused by the influx of 42,000 immigrants into Colorado, bringing with them the Tren de Aragua gang, and are suing a larger neighboring sanctuary city and the state government.
Recently, the City Council in Castle Rock, just south of Denver, voted unanimously to explore legal options against its largest neighbor, CBS News Colorado. Reported.
The vote comes amid a wave of other suburban municipalities that have voted to sue or consider suing over Colorado's immigration crisis.
The goal is to undo the policies and laws that have turned Denver into a haven for tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants, most of them from Venezuela.
Law enforcement officials in the Denver suburb of Aurora and elsewhere have also warned that a brutal Venezuelan prison gang, the Tren de Aragua, is pursuing migrants into Colorado.
Gang members have since spread across the state, taking over apartments, selling drugs and robbing jewelry stores.
“This isn't just a Denver decision,” Castle Rock City Councilman Max Brooks told CBS Colorado, “We're working with other municipalities to say it's time to stop.”
CBS reported that Parker, another Denver suburb, is also considering legal action, as is Aurora, which has attracted national attention for its gang problems.
Meanwhile, Douglas County, where Castle Rock is located, has joined a group of six Colorado counties in a lawsuit against the state and Democratic Governor Jared Polis over laws that limit cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Last month, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office reported the arrest of 11 suspected auto thefts, including three Venezuelan nationals and one Colombian national.
“It's happening. We have problems in Douglas County. You know, immigrants are coming here and there's crime,” Brooks told CBS.
The lawsuit against the state challenges two laws: one that bars law enforcement from detaining people based on their immigration status and another that bars counties from allowing ICE to use their jails.
