https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politifact/2024/09/10/aurora-colorado-officials-and-residents-say-there-is-no-venezuelan-gang-takeover/Surveillance video showing what appears to be a group of Spanish-speaking armed men entering an Aurora, Colorado, apartment complex has stoked fears about people in the U.S. illegally. But city officials and apartment residents have disputed allegations that a Venezuelan gang has seized control of the complex.
The video went viral on social media, with some users saying the men are part of a Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua that has “taken over” the building.
X owner Elon Musk reshared the video, which has been viewed millions of times online. Former President Donald Trump repeated statemetns during a Sept. 6 press conference that noncitizens “took over buildings” in Aurora.
Cindy Romero, a former resident of an Aurora building called The Edge at Lowry, took the surveillance video. She told CBS News on Aug. 30 that she had seen people engage in shootouts and carry automatic weapons in the building. But Aurora’s interim police chief, mayor and building residents say the gang has not “taken over” the apartment complex.
Some Tren de Aragua members have been arrested near an Aurora apartment building on Nome Street, an Aurora Police Department statement said. That is a different building from where the viral video was taken, but is owned by the same company.
Tren de Aragua formed in the Venezuelan state of Aragua more than a decade ago and operated out of a prison there, Reuters reported. The group established a presence in the U.S. in the past six years, federal officials told the Denverite, a news site. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said that Tren de Aragua has a presence in metropolitan Denver, but the threat it poses is “very small” compared with other criminal organizations in the region.
