Two Aurora City Council members during Monday’s meeting called upon city officials to continue to add pressure to the landlord of troubled apartment buildings housing migrants.
CBZ Properties claims that three of their buildings were taken over by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The gang intimidated property management and one employee was beaten, according to CBZ and police.
But city officials have said the problem at the buildings is not only the gangs, but also poor property management. One building is now in receivership after the city shut another building down.
Council members Alison Coombs and Crystal Murillo, who are in the Democratic minority on the council, called upon city staff Monday to more vigorously enforce code violations at the properties.
Coombs: Calls for Aurora to ‘affirm commitment’ to migrants
Coombs said she has “been receiving consistent calls from folks asking that we as a council affirm our commitment, our respect, our value for our immigrant communities and that we as a community come together and support the immigrants in our community and that we not support mass deportation plans demonizing and spreading hate toward our immigrant community, and to me that’s incredibly important. Immigrants make up more than 20% of the residents of the City of Aurora. They are what make our businesses great. They are many of the business owners along the Havana district.”