How the False Story of a Gang ‘Takeover’ in Colorado Reached Trump

Mike Coffman, the conservative Republican mayor of Aurora, Colo., said he was at home on Tuesday night watching the presidential debate and bracing for the worst.

And then there it was again, before tens of millions of viewers: former President Donald J. Trump, describing Mr. Coffman’s Aurora, a sprawling suburb just east of Denver, as a city under siege, terrorized by migrants.

“They’re taking over buildings,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re going in violently.”

Mr. Coffman was contrite on Thursday as he told that story. After all, he had helped create the tall tale now sullying his city’s reputation.

Before Springfield, Ohio, before the misinformation about devoured pets and the memes of Mr. Trump rescuing ducks and kittens, there was Aurora, pop. 404,219, supposedly overrun by the violent Venezuelan street gang, Tren de Aragua. Those claims became a cause célèbre for the right-wing media, and ultimately a key focus of Mr. Trump’s anti-immigration repertoire as he escalated his attacks on immigrants as part of his campaign’s effort to capitalize on voter concerns about the southern border crisis.

Caught in the middle are a number of migrants, living in dilapidated apartments that Aurora officials now call squalor, amid “criminal elements,” not widespread gang activity, and unable to find or afford better. The buildings are nonetheless at the center of a national firestorm.

Law firm hired to investigate gang activity in Aurora, CO reveals unsettling details

At the behest of the lender, the international law firm, “Perkins Coie” investigated the alleged criminal activities of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang at Whispering Pines apartments, a 54-unit complex in Aurora, Colorado.

The Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang’s operation included
<><>first establishing a ‘lower-level’ presence last year,
<><>which they then escalated into violence and intimidation,
<><>the apparent goal was to turn the apt complex into a steady source of income for the gang.

Perkins Coie, the law firm hired by the lender to look into the Venzuelan violence wrote on Aug. 9:
<><>the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang members issued death threats
<><>Tren de Aragua menaced the property manager so badly, he later fled;
<><>Tren de Aragua told the property’s employees that they were now “working for” TdA.

Here’s more, regarding the gang’s activities:
<><>The gang members engaged in flagrant crimes
<><>trespass violations, assaults and battery,
<><>human trafficking and sexual abuse of minors,
<><>unlawful firearms possession, extortion, and other criminal activities,
<><>the gang targeted other immigrant populations.
<><>The gang’s calculated MO was to unlawfully moved gang members into vacant units.
<><>the Venezuelans forced out rent-paying residents to create more open units for themselves
<><>they used the apartments for illegal activities such as prostitution.
<><>the gang used threats of violence to extort the property manager
<><>the gang demanded some 50% of all rental income.

The Venezuelan Tren de Aragua——one of the most notorious gangs in the Americas——was welcomed onto US soil by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. It’s human-trafficking alone is a huge money-maker, with global estimates of industry revenue totaling in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

Now, when the first video of the heavily armed Venezuelans breaking into apts went viral, the state’s governor, Jared Polis stupidly attempted to gaslight Americans, arguing that what they were seeing was all just a figment of an overactive “imagination.”

The tale of Venezuelan murder, mayhem. chaos, and madness in suburban Colorado.
<><>Biden signs the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) into law,
<><>he handed over $3.8 billion tax dollars to Colorado.
<><>“the welcoming city of Denver,” launched its “Emergency Migrant Response” program,
<><>Denver’s goal was to provide housing and services to a massive flow of migrants.
<><>Denver signed multimillion-dollar contracts with local NGOs, ViVe Wellness and Papagayo,
<><>housing and services went to more than 8,000 predominantly Venezuelan migrants.
<><>The NGOs are run by foreigners w/ no previous experience in large-scale migrant resettlement.
<><>flooded with cash between 2023-2024, ViVe Wellness and Papagayo got $4.8M and $774,000
<><>funding came mostly from the Migrant Support Grant, funded by Biden’s ARPA.
<><>Then, in 2024, ViVe secured an extra $10.4 million across three migrant contracts,
<><>Papagayo received $2.9 million more from a single contract;
<><>monies ran “Denver Asylum Seekers Program,” six months rental to some 1,000 migrants
<><>Papagayo worked w/ CBZ Management,
<><>CBZ is a property company that operates three apt bldngs known as Aspen Grove.
<><>Papagayo placed Venezuelan migrants in the company’s Aurora apt complexes.
<><>When Venezuelans needed housing, regional property manager matched them w/ available apts.
<><>It was a booming business
<><>Papagayo arranged 100’s of contracts for two months of rental assistance,
<><>many migrants did not have, or were unable to open, bank accounts.
<><>in six months, approximately 80% of the residents were Venezuelan migrants.
<><>the buildings saw rising gang activity and violence.
<><>Papagayo made assurances to hesitant landlords that migrants had stable jobs and income.
<><>but limited English, 6-month wait for work permits, made migrants ineligible for jobs,
<><>migrants struggled to find stable jobs, and ultimately fell behind on rent.
<><>As the Venezuelan migrants settled in, they caused lots of trouble.
<><>the apartments saw a string of crimes,
<><>trespassing, assault, extortion, drug use, illegal firearm possession,
<><>human trafficking, and sexual abuse of minors abounded.
<><>Each of the three complexes has since shown a localized spike in crime.
<><>there’s shock at tax dollars blanketing an NGO not equipped to handle it.

The City of Denver, for its part, appears to be charging ahead. It recently voted to provide additional funding for migrant programs and, according to the right-leaning Common Sense Institute, the total cost to Denver could be up to $340 million, factoring in new burdens on schools and the health-care system. And the city also appears to have no qualms about exporting the crisis to the surrounding suburbs, including Aurora, which, in 2017, had declared itself a non-sanctuary city.

The truth is that there is no sanctuary for a city, a county, or a country that welcomes—and, in fact, attracts—violent gang members from Venezuela. This is cruelty, not compassion. Unfortunately, it might take more than the seizure of an apartment building, a dramatic rise in crime, and a grisly murder for cities like Denver to change course.

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