Gangs of Venezuelan migrants have taken over several apartment complexes in Colorado, forcing out the landlords and collecting rent from terrified tenants, local authorities confirmed Friday.
Aurora Mayor Miek Coffman acknowledged the problem in an interview with Fox News after horrifying surveillance video from inside one of the complexes went viral online, showing multiple men armed with guns patrolling the inside of the building and intimidating residents.
NEW: Mayor of Aurora, CO suggests the federal government may have funded to send the Venezualan gangs to Aurora.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 30, 2024
The armed gangs took over apartment complexes and acted as the landlords, collecting rents. They now control parts of the city and violent crime is skyrocketing. pic.twitter.com/UcfGI9Z2hB
“There are several buildings, actually under the same ownership - out of state ownership - that have fallen to these Venezuelan gangs," Coffman finally admitted, just one day after he'd originally downplayed the situation and claimed the reports were being exaggerated.
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"I’m trying to walk it back and do the investigation as to how those concentrations of Venezuelans in these three buildings - somebody put them there and somebody funded it, whether it’s federal government or not, we’re trying to find out who - these gangs are apparently attracted to where there’s a concentration of Venezuelan migrants, and so they’ve in fact kind of pushed out the property management through intimidation and collected the rents," he went on.
The mayor said the city has created a task force made up of local, state, and federal law enforcement to try and figure out how these gangs were able to effectively take over entire apartment complexes and to deal with the problem, saying the city has confirmed it is an “organized criminal effort,” but the exact gang hasn’t been identified. He did, however, acknowledge that a Venezuelan gang called “Tren de Aragua,” or “TdA,” is now known to be operating in Aurora.
Coffman blamed a “failed policy at the southern border” for how these gangs got into the country in the first place, saying unvetted migrants with criminal histories in their home countries are being allowed to come into the United States and terrorize other migrants and American citizens.
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Tim Walz is now blaming his repeat offenses of stolen valor on poor grammar. Um, this guy was a public school teacher.
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