Democrat Gov. Jared Polis dismissed residents’ concerns about gangs overrunning entire apartment complexes as a figment of their “imagination.”
A resident of Aurora, Colorado, who escaped from an apartment complex overrun by criminal Venezuelan gangs slammed Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) for dismissing reports of the gang takeover.
Cindy Romero joined Fox News on Friday to explain how Aurora Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky has been reaching out to locals caught in the middle of the Tren de Aragua takeover of apartment complexes.
“Councilwoman Jurinsky, who has been amazing, I had this conversation with her. She said, ‘Do you still live there?’ And I said yes and she said, ‘I’m going to get you out of there,’” Romero said.
“Polis wouldn’t last five minutes on this property,” says an Aurora resident who escaped from an apartment complex overrun by a Venezuelan gang. The resident SLAMS the governor of Colorado, whose office claimed that this gang invasion is largely a “figment of the local leaders’… pic.twitter.com/0LDPioFRMX
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) August 30, 2024
Gov. Polis dismissed Jurinsky’s warning’s about the gang takeover as a “figment of her imagination” despite the emergence of several videos showing gangs storming the complexes.
“The Governor has already let the Mayor know that the State is ready to support the local police department with assistance from state troopers and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation if needed,” Shelby Wieman, a spokesperson for the Democratic governor, told the New York Post on Thursday.
“But, according to police intelligence this purported invasion is largely a feature of Danielle Jurinsky’s imagination.”
Romero pointed out the videos circulating on social media taken from outside her residence are compelling proof the gang takeovers are occurring.
“You can’t fake video. And Polis wouldn’t last 5 minutes on that property,” Romero said.
NEW VIDEO armed group at troubled #aurora #colorado apartment complex now home to many migrants. Councilmember @DaniJurinsky says gangs have taken over the complex @KDVR @AuroraPD pic.twitter.com/J1uie8Y2M6
— Vicente Arenas (@vicentearenastv) August 28, 2024
Jurinsky also responded to Polis’s remarks, criticizing him for allowing Colorado to be turned into a gang “breeding ground.”
“I absolutely did not make any of this up. I love that that is how our governor has quickly rushed in to say that that’s the actual problem here,” she said. “But the actual problem here are his weak policies that have turned this state into a breeding ground for this gang activity.”
Romero agreed, telling host John Roberts that Polis and other Democrat leaders “don’t want to admit that they are part of the problem.”
“It’s the administration who we count on to make the rules for us, to make the guidelines that we go by. I call 911, no help comes for me,” she said. “There’s no mass amounts of police that show up to make sure that we’re defended. No one showed up to help me. I didn’t have a bulletproof vest. I didn’t have 5 officers showing up with me when there was a problem.”
“We were on our own and we were left to die,” she added.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman also pushed back on Polis’ denial of these gang takeovers, saying he’s launched an investigation into where exactly these gangs came from who paid for the operation.
“I’m trying to walk it back and do the investigation as to how there’s a concentration of Venezuelans, in these, these three buildings,” he said.
NEW: Mayor of Aurora, CO suggests the federal government may have funded to send the Venezualan gangs to Aurora.
The armed gangs took over apartment complexes and acted as the landlords, collecting rents. They now control parts of the city and violent crime is skyrocketing. pic.twitter.com/UcfGI9Z2hB
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 30, 2024
“Somebody put them there and somebody funded it, whether it’s federal government or not, we’re trying to find out who, these gangs apparently, or attracted to where there’s a concentration of, of, Venezuelan migrants. And so, they’ve, in fact, have kind of pushed out the property management through intimidation and then, collected the rents.”
Coffman also said the Biden administration may be directly responsible for the proliferation of Venezuelan gangs in the community.
“[This is] not our problem, federal problem or issue. They need to resolve it. Not us. But somehow we got sucked into this,” he said.
“I think we’re a victim of a failed policy at the southern border because, what you have, I, Venezuelan, does not according to to my law enforcement, Venezuela does not cooperate with the United States in sharing criminal histories. You had a third of the country leave,” the mayor added.
