Aurora authorities knew about Tren de Aragua problem over a year ago, documents show
Authorities in Aurora, Colorado, were aware of the threat from Tren de Aragua gang members more than a year ago, a city council member says.
An Aurora City Council member says she has documents verifying that local police knew about the "Tren De Aragua" gang's takeover of local apartment buildings more than a year ago.
Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky published photos of the documents to her personal X profile on Wednesday and Thursday. The documents contain emails from within the Aurora Police Department discussing extensive gang activities in the area.
"I am done. I am tired of the city lying. I am done with the governor who called the cops on me. I am done with the local media. This is an issue of human suffering. Gang members are extorting and torturing other migrants who came here for a better life and to get away from gangs like this." Jurinsky told Fox News Digital in an interview.
"This is one of the biggest cover-ups I’ve ever seen and Aurora police officers on the front lines are sick of it as well. They are putting their lives on the line and they are fed up," she added.
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She went on to say that the Tren de Aragua gang is "still very much in control" of the apartment buildings in question.
She also pointed to a document from October of last year from the Aurora PD's Gang Intervention Unit. The document shows that authorities believed there were at least 15-20 members of TdA operating in Denver and Aurora at the time.
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The document notes that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had intelligence indicating that TdA planned to establish a headquarters in Aurora, even going on to list the addresses of two apartment buildings at the center of the controversy: The Edge at Lowry and the Fitzsimons Place Apartments.
Jurinsky's release comes just one day after the Department of Homeland Security recommended more than 100 migrants believed to be affiliated with TdA be put on an FBI watchlist.
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NBC News first reported that DHS identified more than 600 individuals with possible ties to TdA, and that 100 of those are deemed "subjects of interests." Fox confirmed that it recommended they be placed on the FBI’s Watchlist for Transnational Criminal Organizations.
The gang is believed to have started in the Tocoron prison in the Venezuelan state of Aragua and has since expanded into Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and the U.S. In a statement, DHS said that the identities emerged as part of an ongoing re-screening operation to tackle the gang.
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