Within just a few months, the Torren de Aragua gang had established a foothold in Aurora, Colorado and began taking over. The Denver suburbs have become a case study in the unintended consequences of the Biden-Harris administration's border policies.
Former President Donald Trump is headed to Aurora on Friday to highlight the scourge of immigrant gang violence in the United States.
he was the first promised to visit He said this two weeks ago at a campaign rally in Uniondale, New York. I have to do what I have to do. ”
Of course, Colorado isn't exactly a battleground state. Opinion polls show Vice President Kamala Harris leading President Trump by more than 10 points.
But the border and immigration have been key issues for President Trump in each of his last three campaigns.
The Post first reported Torren de Aragua's invasion of the city of 390,000 people. There, several apartment buildings were taken over by violent Venezuelan prison gangs.
Local police later revealed that at least 10 members of Torren de Aragua were arrested in Aurora, including one of the gang's leaders known as “Galetta” or “Cookie.”
The city has since closed down at least one apartment complex, Fitzmond's Place, that was a hub of gang activity. The Cookie Monster is said to have brutally beaten a resident to the ground, leading to a gunfight that left two people injured.
Later, in late August, a video shot inside an apartment in another complex, The Edge at Raleigh, was released showing six heavily armed immigrant men being attacked by a squad that included at least one TdA gang member. The scene of a break-in was shown. Minutes later, the crew was caught in deadly gunfire.
Days after the video was released, then-interim Chief Heather Morris of the Aurora Police Department denied that a gang had taken over the complex.
“I'm not saying there aren't gang members who don't live in this community, but what we know here is that gang members haven't taken over this complex,” Morris said. .
But neighbors and former residents told the Post a different story of the terror TdA unleashed in and around the housing complex, where cars and bricks were riddled with bullet holes.
City Councilman Daniel Julinski told the Post that Aurora residents feel “left behind and forgotten” by city leadership that rejected the TdA purchase. She believes Mr. Trump will be well-received by residents who are tired of immigrant crime.
“I think this allows people to feel heard about the things we've had to deal with here, and I think that's very important,” Jurinsky said.
The TdA gang members arrived with a flood of migrants flooding into the nearby sanctuary city of Denver, which has hosted more than 42,000 migrants since 2022.
Gang members primarily enter the country through the Texas border, where they pose as asylum seekers.
As Denver attracted immigrants with aid money, the city was forced to cut funding to emergency services to cover the $68 million cost.
But the city of Aurora wanted the opposite, passing a resolution in February emphasizing that it would not provide such resources to immigrants or people brought into the community from neighboring cities.
