City of Aurora officials dispel claims city taken over by Venezuelan gangs

(The Center Square) - Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman and City Council Member Danielle Jurinsky released a statement saying that their city has not been taken over by a Venezuelan gang and were critical of unnamed media and social media sites inaccurate claims.

"The entire city of Aurora was not taken over," Jurinsky stated on X late Tuesday night. "Several Apartment complexes were taken over by Tren de Aragua and people suffered because of it."

Coffman and Jurinsky's statement was endorsed by the police department. It stated:

"We would like to clear the record about the widely reported presence of Tren de Aragua (TdA) in Aurora and across the metro area. We want to provide an update about the facts of the situation and the Aurora Police Department’s collaborative, ongoing efforts to investigate and aggressively pursue criminal activity linked to TdA members and associates."

It continued: "TdA has not 'taken over' the city. The overstated claims fueled by social media and through select news organizations are simply not true. Again, TdA’s presence in Aurora is limited to specific properties, all of which the city has been addressing in various ways for months."

The statement said that the police department has identified 10 people with links to the Venezuelan gang and has arrested eight of them.

Aurora police are part of a special task force that is working with local, state and federal agencies to address the gang.

The city stated that this particular criminal element is a regional issue.

"For some time, well before concerns about TdA in Colorado generated national attention, APD had been arresting people for various criminal activities who had suspected, but not necessarily confirmed, TdA connections," the statement said.

The gang issue became a national story after videos circulated on X of the gang and its members taking over apartment complexes that led the mayor to seek an emergency court order to clear apartments that have been targeted by Venezuelan gangs, as previously reported by The Center Square.

Donald Trump mentioned the gang presence in Aurora in Tuesday night's presidential debate.

"You look at Aurora in Colorado, they are taking over the towns, they are taking over the buildings. They are going in violently," Trump said.