AURORA, Colo. — Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman in a Friday news conference deflected blame to neighboring Denver for an immigration crisis that has included the rise of a Venezuelan gang within the city, and admitted the complex where victims were kidnapped and beaten this week is in “free fall” ahead of a possible closure.
Coffman was asked how the situation reached the point it did this week, when two victims were kidnapped, robbed and tortured for hours by suspected members and associates of Tren de Aragua at the Edge of Lowry complex. Tren de Aragua (TdA) is a Venezuelan prison gang that has infiltrated and wreaked havoc on multiple properties in Aurora in recent months.
Coffman said he is still “trying to get to the bottom of what happened,” pushing blame onto Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and nonprofits that housed immigrants in Aurora over the last year.
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Late last year, Denver entered a contract with a hotel in Aurora to house immigrants – with Coffman’s blessing. But he says Johnston sending immigrants into Denver’s eastern suburb didn’t stop after that blessing was rescinded, even going so far as labeling it as “a form of human dumping.”