AURORA, Colo. – On an almost freezing afternoon, a man in a supermarket parking lot held a cardboard sign identifying himself as a migrant and asking for help. Next to him, a woman and at least one small child sat on the ground, their shoulders hunched against the biting breeze.
Such sights have become ubiquitous to those living in Aurora and the broader Denver area. Migrants living on the streets, asking for money or running to cars, stopped at intersections with windshield wipers, trying to make a quick buck by washing the windshields.
Less visible to the average Aurora resident is the violent gang crime which catapulted the city of approximately 400,000 residents to national fame.
“We’ve seen extortion, we’ve seen murders, we’ve seen a kidnapping,” said John Fabbricatore, former director of the ICE field office for the Denver area, referring to crimes allegedly linked to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
These problems “are a direct result of what has been happening at the border over the last four years, and also the fact that all these people were coming in who had not been vetted. We didn’t know who they were. And now more gang members are crossing the border. community,” Fabbricatore added.
A video showing alleged gang members carrying weapons at an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, went viral in August 2024. This week, local media reported that a municipal judge had ordered the troubled apartment closed due to “outright violent crimes and property crimes.” (Courtesy of Edward Romero)
A viral video of alleged Venezuelan gang members carrying guns through an Aurora apartment complex last August put a spotlight on immigration in the Denver area. President-elect Donald Trump visited the city during his re-election campaign last fall and talked about his ‘Operation Aurora’.
“Upon taking office, we will conduct ‘Operation Aurora’ at the federal level to expedite the removal of these savage gangs,” Trump said during his speech. October 11 meeting. He said he would use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to “target and dismantle any criminal migrant network operating on U.S. soil.”
While local police initially denied that gang members had ‘taken over’ the Edge at Lowry Apartments, local outlets reported this week that a judge had granted the city an emergency injunction to close the 60-unit complex. The city described the complex as “an epicenter for outright violent and property crimes,” and referenced the December kidnapping and torture of a migrant couple at the apartment complex by suspected TdA members.
There were nine men associated with this week’s crime.
General view of apartment buildings at 12th and Dallas on December 17, 2024, the day after a reported home invasion and kidnapping. The police initially arrested 19 suspects. Three were subsequently released after investigators determined they were not involved in the crime, police said. The other suspects who have not yet been charged are in ICE custody. (Fox News digital)
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The arrests follow a blistering opinion piece by Aurora Mayor Mike Coffmanaccusing his counterpart in Denver of offloading migrants in the smaller city “through the cover of two nonprofits” and blocking efforts by Aurora to find out how many migrants had been deposited in the city.
“Aurora has suffered a national embarrassment that has damaged our city’s image in ways that could have lasting economic consequences,” wrote Coffman, a Republican. “As mayor of Aurora, I ask Mayor Mike Johnston to be transparent and tell the truth about what he did.”
A spokesperson for Johnston’s office previously told Fox News Digital that “Denver has not directed any nonprofit or agency 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 interview requests.
Fabbricatore said both mayors were “guilty of trying to ignore” the illegal immigration problem, especially when TdA first came into the community.
“There is a major lack of communication between Aurora and Denver,” he said. “Both mayors need to come forward and admit that we have a criminal, illegal, alien problem, we have a gang problem, and that is what needs to be addressed.”
John Fabbricatore speaks with Fox News Digital on January 8, 2025 in Aurora, Colorado. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)
Fabbricatore praised Trump’s appointment of former acting ICE director Tom Homan as “border czar,” calling Homan a “cop” and predicting that federal agents could conduct “targeted enforcement” against “criminal illegal aliens.”
People living in Aurora that Fox News Digital spoke to generally said they felt safe in the city and personally had not noticed the gang problems.
Al, who moved to Aurora from Chicago four years ago, said crime in Colorado is “nothing in comparison.”
“I know a lot of people complain about the gang problems, but I personally haven’t even noticed it,” he said. “The only real problem I see here is that the homeless population is quite high, and I sympathize with them.”
Total crime in the city of about 400,000 inhabitants fell slightly in the first eight months of 2024 compared to the previous year, according to an analysis by local station Denver7 found. And while the number of gang-related assaults rose 33% compared to 2023, a five-year average of reported crimes shows the number of assaults has dropped significantly from 513 to 221, police data shows.
Locals were divided over whether they supported Trump’s promised mass deportations.
“If they came in illegally, they need to go back and come in properly,” Roosevelt told Fox News Digital.
Roosevelt and Clarence spoke with Fox News Digital on January 8, 2025 in Aurora, Colorado. (Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi/Fox News Digital)
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But Clarence, originally from Memphis, Tennessee, worried about the impact on immigrants who have lived in the area for decades.
“These people have been here all this time,” he said. “How are you going to drive these people out of their homes? I don’t understand that. They’ve been here longer than me.’
Robert minced few words, suggesting that ICE “deport Trump” instead.
Trump has previously said that removing illegal immigrants who have committed crimes is the priority, but that his administration is prepared to target otherwise law-abiding immigrants next.
