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Aurora, Colorado – On a near-freezing afternoon in a grocery store parking lot, a man held up a cardboard sign with his immigration status asking for help. Next to him, a woman and at least one child sat on the ground, their shoulders hunched in the biting breeze.
For people living in Aurora and the broader Denver area, attractions like this have become ubiquitous. Immigrants living on the streets either reach for money or run to cars and stop at intersections with squeegees in hand, trying to make a quick buck by cleaning windshields.
Less obvious to the average Aurora resident is that violent gang crime This has catapulted this city of approximately 400,000 people into national prominence.
“We’ve seen extortion, murder, kidnapping,” said John Fabbricatore, the former ICE Denver field office director, referring to alleged ties to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. de Aragua).
These problems “are a direct result of what’s happened at the border over the last four years and allowing all these unvetted people to come in. We don’t know who they are. Now we have more gang members coming into border communities,” Fabbricatore added.
In August 2024, a video showing alleged gang members carrying guns at an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, went viral. This week, local media reported that a city judge ordered the troubled apartment to close due to “serious violent crimes and property crimes.” (Courtesy of Edward Romero)
one viral video Last August, the incident of Venezuelan gang members suspected of carrying guns through an Aurora apartment complex drew attention to immigration issues in the Denver area. President-elect Donald Trump visited the city last fall during his re-election campaign, detailing his Operation Aurora.
“After taking office, we will launch Operation Aurora at the federal level to expedite the removal of these brutal gangs,” Trump said in his speech. Rally on October 11. He said he would use the Foreign Enemy Act of 1798 to “target and dismantle every criminal immigration network operating on American soil.”
Although local police initially denied that gang members had “occupied” the Edge at Lowry’s apartment, local outlets Reports this week said a judge issued an emergency order to the city to close the 60-unit complex. The city calls the complex “an epicenter of serious violent crime and property crime,” citing the kidnapping and torture of an immigrant couple at the apartment building in December by suspected TdA members.
nine men were Associated charges Crime of the week.
A panoramic view of an apartment building at 12th Street and Dallas on December 17, 2024, the day after reports of a burglary and kidnapping. Police initially arrested 19 suspects. The three were later released after investigators determined they were not involved in the crime, police said. Other suspects who have not yet been charged are in ICE custody. (Fox News Digital)
The arrests followed a fiery op-ed. Aurora Mayor Mike Coffmanaccused its Denver counterpart of moving immigrants to the smaller city “through the cover of two nonprofits” and prevented Aurora from finding out how many immigrants were being housed in the city.
“Aurora has suffered a national embarrassment that has damaged our city’s image and may have lasting economic consequences,” Kauffman, a Republican, wrote. “As Mayor of Aurora, I ask Mike Johns Mayor Dayton was transparent and told the truth about what he was doing.”
A spokesperson for Johnston’s office previously told Fox News Digital that “Denver has not directed any nonprofits or agencies to place newcomers in Aurora.”
Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain declined to be interviewed for this story. Mayor Coffman’s office did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.
Fabricatore said both mayors “tried to ignore” the issue of illegal immigration, especially when TdA first entered the community.
“There’s a huge lack of communication between Aurora and Denver,” he said. “Both mayors need to step up and admit we have a criminal, illegal, alien problem, we have a gang problem and that’s what needs to be addressed.”
John Fabbricatore speaks to Fox News Digital on January 8, 2025 in Aurora, Colorado. (Hannah Rae Lambert/Fox News Digital)
Fabricatore praised Trump’s appointment of former ICE acting director Tom Homan as “border czar,” calling Homan a “cop’s cop” and predicting federal agents would be able to target “criminal illegal aliens.” Conduct “targeted enforcement.”
People living in Aurora interviewed by Fox News Digital generally said they feel safe in the city and are not personally aware of gang issues.
Al, who moved to Aurora from Chicago four years ago, said Colorado’s crime rate “is nothing in comparison.”
“I know a lot of people complain about the gang problem, but I personally don’t even notice it,” he said. “The only real problem I see here is the homeless population, which is quite high, and I do feel for them.”
Overall crime in the city of about 400,000 people fell slightly in the first eight months of 2024 compared with the previous year, an analysis showed Local radio station Denver7 established. Police data shows that while gang-related assaults did surge by 33% compared with 2023, the five-year average of reported crimes showed a significant drop in such attacks from 513 to 221.
Locals are divided over whether to support Trump’s promised mass deportations.
“If they entered illegally, they need to go back and enter the right way,” Roosevelt told Fox News Digital.
Roosevelt and Clarence were interviewed by Fox News Digital on January 8, 2025 in Aurora, Colorado. (Alba Cubas-Fantazi/Fox News Digital)
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But Clarence, who is from Memphis, Tenn., worries about the impact it will have on immigrants who have lived in the area for decades.
“These people have always been here,” he said. “How are you going to get these people out of the house? I don’t understand that. They’ve been here longer than I have.”
Robert briefly suggested that ICE “deport Trump.”
Trump has previously said deporting criminal illegal immigrants is a top priority, but his administration is prepared to target other law-abiding immigrants later.
