EDITORIAL: Crucial facts about Venezuelan gang claims in Aurora can’t come from Trump, Coffman or Jurinsky
As many as 40,000 Venezuelan immigrants have come to the Denver metro area over the last two years
‘The way forward is clear. Neither Coffman nor Jurinsky can be trusted by anyone to act as a credible spokesperson for Aurora’
by
BY THE SENTINEL EDITORIAL BOARD September 16, 2024
Residents of The Edge at Lowry Apartments at East 12th Avenue and Dallas Street in Aurora speak out against what they say is widespread disinformation about their apartment complex. Some Aurora City Council members have gone on national and local TV saying that the complex is dangerous because its overrun by Venezuelan gangs. Residents, police and city staff say it’s untrue, and that a “slumlord” has made it nearly unlivable.
PHOTO BY SUSAN GREENE, For the Sentinel
Some day in the future, there will be a long list of lessons learned about how Aurora botched the Venezuelan immigrant calamity, but local, state and federal officials can correct course right now to stem the disaster.
Aurora — for generations a bastion of pride and hope for all races and all cultures from people from around the globe — has tragically become ground zero in a dog-whistle race war against immigrants.
For weeks, a growing clan of Republican extremists, led by Republican Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky, have flooded the media with disinformation, exaggerations and fear-mongering, insisting that a notorious Venezuelan gang has overrun parts or all of Aurora.
Credible police, city, state and congressional representatives have repeatedly said, and shown, that it’s a lie.
It’s a lie created and propelled by Republican extremists to advance an anti-immigrant and white-nationalist agenda in hopes of swaying scared or distracted voters with what amounts to domestic terrorism.
Do not be misled nor fooled by this dangerous and cruel partisan scheme by political leaders and complicit or inept media advancing this clear cause.
All residents in Aurora should look to credible media for the facts in a crisis that threatens the lives and the livelihoods of every resident in the city, the region and the state.
All readers should consider these documented facts:
•
As many as 40,000 Venezuelan immigrants have come to the Denver metro area over the last two years after the governor of Texas and other officials there contrived a way to bus immigrants coming over the border to targeted large cities across the nation, including Denver.
• Denver was overwhelmed by the wave of migrants, and while state and federal officials have provided some financial assistance to manage the humanitarian crisis, it has never been and is not now nearly enough. The financial and management burden has fallen primarily on Denver, Aurora and those taxpayers.
• Many of these Venezuelan migrants are here legally under temporary refugee immigration policy, or they could be if the federal government would make current immigration policy workable and navigable.
• A critical, bi-partisan congressional immigration and border policy measure was scuttled in February by Trump and his political allies as a presidential campaign ploy, extending border and immigration chaos.
• A 1-square-mile part of this 170-square-mile city, in northwest Aurora, has struggled with myriad crime, code and poverty issues for decades, beginning in the 1960s when the city abandoned East Colfax Avenue as its downtown.
• Three apartment complexes in the region have long been the subject of tenant and neighborhood complaints. These properties have been the target of city code and health inspectors for more than two years, well before Venezuelan immigrants began arriving in the region. These complexes are held by the same out-of-state company, which has faced similar health and safety complaints in other cities.
• The owner has told media and elected officials — without proof or evidence — that his properties became slums because Venezuelan gang members “took over” the complexes, terrorizing residents and stealing rent payments. Police and city officials have repeatedly disputed the claims, saying current residents and preliminary investigations make it clear there has been criminal activity related to and separate from any gangs, the owner’s claims are false.
• To date, 10 people have been arrested by Aurora or other metro law enforcers and are accused of having ties to Venezuelan gangs and are connected with a wide range of crimes across the metro area.
• A so-called “investigation” into the Whispering Pines apartment complex health and safety issues was conducted by a law firm hired by apartment owner company principals. Touted as an actual investigation by some political officials, as well as some local and national media, it is actually a letter sent to city officials, summarizing similar claims made by owners of the beleaguered apartment complexes previously. City officials said the law firm and other principals continue to be “uncooperative” in allowing police to perform an actual and credible investigation.
• Despite claims by Jurinsky and others, police have never denied Venezuelan gang activity, nor any other gang problem, in the complexes and area. Despite that, Jurisnky has repeatedly, falsely claimed that police and city officials have hidden or pooh-poohed the problem, and that some local media, including the
Sentinel, have been complicit.
• On July 28, days before the apartment crisis erupted, Jurinsky claimed a variety of disproven claims on her Facebook page after a massive gathering of people in an Aurora shopping mall parking lot led to a Sunday night conundrum. The flash-mob was the result of Venezuelan immigrants expecting to see Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro ousted from office by voters. Jusinsky claimed police lost control of the event and that a police car was “shot up.” Police have repeatedly denied both claims. Jurinsky said the event was a portent of why the 2024 election was critical to choosing candidates based on border and immigration policy.
• Since then, Jurinsky has been in the forefront of local and national media stories, continually insisting, without fact or merit, that parts of Aurora have been “taken over” by Venezuelan gangs, creating widespread fear among immigrants, Latinos and others as they have become the direct or indirect target of the demonization.
• Trump has capitalized on the scheme and boosted it, falsely claiming now that the entire city is overrun with and paralyzed by Venezuelan gangs.
• Mayor Mike Coffman has both promoted some of the Venezuelan gang fiction and pushed back against it, sometimes on different TV news shows even on the same day, causing confusion among everyone as to what he means and believes.
• Jurinsky has, also, now tried to backpedal on some of her claims, saying that while she maintains, without proof of merit, that “some” areas of the city and “some” apartment complexes have been overrun by gangs and have been and continue to be under their control, she did not go as far as Trump as to say that “all” of Aurora has been overtaken. Her multiple TV appearances with far-right extremist FoxNews news personalities, easily available at FoxNews.com, are unequivocal.
The way forward is clear. Neither Coffman nor Jurinsky can be trusted by anyone to act as a credible spokesperson for Aurora. Aurora, just last week, hired a new police chief and, along with a city manager spokesperson, should be the sole official voices in this crisis.
There are 11 voting members on the Aurora City Council, answerable to the city’s nearly 400,000 residents. The city needs only six voices of reason to agree to take control of this self-inflicted catastrophe, allowing Jurinsky and Coffman to say anything they want, but not on behalf of the government of Aurora and the residents.
Aurora residents can call Access Aurora at 303-739-7000 and email them at
access@auroragov.org to reach their city representatives and push the council in a direction of responsibility and reality.
www.foxnews.com
