Residents of an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, are speaking out after viral videos showing armed men entering one of the apartments have sparked anti-immigrant rhetoric, fear mongering and misinformation.
The videos were released by former residents of The Edge at Lowry Apartments and show several Spanish-speaking men with guns walking up a flight of stairs to an apartment on August 18.
Conservatives, including former President Donald Trump, began making baseless claims that a Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua was running the complex and benefit the residents.
Residents tried to set the record straight at a press conference on Tuesday to dispel rumors that the entire complex had been taken over by a migrant gang. Many took the opportunity and also drew attention to the unsanitary living conditions in the apartment complex, including mice, piles of trash that had not been collected, faulty appliances, leaking pipes and more. according to the Associated Press.
“The only criminal here is the owner of the building,” said a resident named Moises Didenot, who is from Venezuela, according to the AP. Didenot also showed live mice on a trap he recently caught in his apartment.
“I have lived here for a year and I have not experienced any form of violence,” said another resident at the press conference. according to CBS News.
Another resident, who did not reveal his name, said the story of a takeover by Tren de Aragua has prompted people in the Aurora community to classify all residents of the Lowry apartments as criminals.
“They’re trying to put us all in one group, all in one bag,” the resident said. “They’re trying to say there are delinquents here, there are criminals. Here are mothers, there are families.”
In one Fox News interview last week, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman blamed “failed border policies” for the alleged incident and baselessly claimed that the gang had “pushed out the property management” and taken over at least two apartment buildings.
Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky added fuel to the fire when she did so claimed in an interview with De Nationale Balie that the residents complained about the men who ‘went through the complex heavily armed’.
“They patrol the complex. They decide who comes in, who goes out, they go door to door. They have wormed their way into many complexes. They threw people out,” she added.
Interim Aurora Police Chief Heather Morris quickly dispelled the idea of a Tren de Aragua takeover after speaking directly to the people who live there.
“We’ve talked to the residents here and learned from them to find out exactly what’s going on, and there’s definitely a different picture,” Morris said. “I’m not saying there aren’t gang members who don’t live in this community, but what we’re learning here is that gang members have not taken over this complex.”
The Police Department, in coordination with state and federal partners, previously established a special task force in August to tackle crimes in the city involving Tren de Aragua. In one statement Addressing concerns at the Lowry Apartments, police officials reiterated that their task force was already investigating the gang and that their investigation has led them to believe that the reports of Tren de Aragua’s influence are isolated.
“We are aware that components of TdA are active in Aurora. APD continues to collect evidence that the gang has ties to crimes in the area,” the statement said. “Based on our initial investigative work, we believe reports of TdA influence in Aurora are isolated.”
The series of events reflects a similar situation in Chicago claiming that the Venezuelan gang had taken over an apartment building were expelled.
The anti-immigrant rhetoric and disinformation about migrant crime that followed the incidents reflect the right-wing fear-mongering perpetuated by the Trump campaign.
At the 2024 Republican National Convention in July, for example speakers fibbed freely about immigrants and crime despite research indicating so that Americans commit crimes on American soil more often than immigrants, and that Crime rates generally appear to be declining throughout the country.
“Americans die every day – murdered, attacked and raped by illegal immigrants that Democrats freed,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at the RNC.
Former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro was among many others who joined the anti-immigrant rhetoric at the RNC.
“Joe and Kamala, they threw the woke blue carpet out over the Rio Grande, opened our borders, for what? Murderers and rapists,” Navarro said. ‘They are murderers and rapists. Drug cartels. Human traffickers. Terrorists. Chinese spies. And an army of illiterate illegal aliens stealing the jobs of black, brown and working-class Americans.”
Former President Donald Trump, known for his damaging and violent altercations around the topic of immigration and a host of other topics, has previously nodded to Adolf Hitler when he talked about immigrationclaiming that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
He also addressed the Aurora conflict in an apparent fear-mongering effort.
“You haven’t even seen the beginning of this migrant crime,” he said of the video last week as he campaigned for president.
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