A handful of run-down Aurora apartment buildings and a Venezuelan gang have become a focal point of the United States immigration debate.
But several city and law enforcement officials say the gang’s presence and influence in the city is smaller than what national news outlets and some politicians have claimed.
The apartments’ landlord recently said that members of the gang Tren de Aragua took possession of the buildings, shook down residents for rent money and chased out the property managers.
Those are allegations that many residents and some city officials have pushed back on. However, Aurora Police acknowledged recently they have received complaints of stolen rent at three affected apartment complexes. Police also said on Wednesday that they have identified and arrested several of the gang’s members.
In recent weeks, rumors surrounding the gang have gone viral on social media. News outlets have published sensational headlines after a video of armed men at an apartment in Aurora was widely shared.
There was this one from the New York Post: “Brutal Venezuelan gang violence spills into quiet suburb from the sanctuary city next door— despite efforts to keep migrants out.” And this one from Newsweek: “Colorado Town Being 'Overrun' By Venezuelan Gangs.” There were countless others.
In response, some have called for mass deportations and violence against new immigrants in the Denver metro. Elected officials and political candidates have even accused the leaders of Aurora and Denver of a coverup, and blamed Denver’s immigration policies for what’s happening.
- Need a quick explainer? See our 5-minute read on Tren de Aragua in Aurora
Meanwhile, many residents of the apartment buildings in question are receiving death threats and fear for their safety, not from the Venezuelan gang but from would-be vigilantes who are threatening the residents with violence.
A stew of hot takes, hyperbole, conflicting statements from officials, anonymous sourcing, racist speech, and political campaigning have defined the conversation.
It’s hard to know who to trust, what’s real and what isn’t.
Denverite reviewed the news stories and the claims made by the landlord, officials, politicians, activists and the police. We spent time at one apartment building, speaking with residents; observed the City of Aurora displacing residents of another building; and reviewed federal and local government statements.
We learned the apartment buildings have been in terrible shape for years and still are. Many residents say they are not scared of gangs, instead saying they fear the owners of the complex. And local police departments say Tren de Aragua does not have an outsized role in metro area crimes, despite claims the gang has taken over the Denver area.
Still, the gang’s members have allegedly been involved in one high-profile robbery and an attempted homicide in the metro. Aurora police say they have identified 10 gang members and that six were in custody on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, while police acknowledged the allegations of rent theft, they said they had not yet found probable cause to make arrests in those cases. We could not substantiate whether the gang members had chased out property managers.
Let’s start with what we know.
There are a handful of apartment buildings in Aurora owned by CBZ Management, a company based in Brooklyn, New York. For years, residents of several of those buildings have complained about rats, mice and insects, concerns over crime and poor treatment by management.
All that predates the arrival of tens of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants in the Denver area.
For the past two years, Aurora has been working to get the property owners into compliance with the law, said Jessica Prosser, Aurora’s director of housing and community services, at a press conference in August.
Many newly arrived Venezuelans and other Spanish-speaking immigrants were placed into those apartments by nonprofits. Those homes, as uninhabitable as many of the units may be, are among the few that are affordable to newly arriving immigrant families.
We know there have been recent assaults and shootings at and near some of the properties. Aurora Police arrested a man on suspicion of attempted homicide and say he is connected to Tren de Aragua.
Police also said the allegations of rent theft have surfaced at several CBZ Management properties.
"We have received numerous complaints and allegations about stolen rent from residents at all three CBZ complexes," Aurora Police spokesperson Joe Moylan wrote Denverite in an email. "But to date we have not established probable cause to make any arrests on those claims."
We also know there is a video of men with guns entering one of the apartments at The Edge at Lowry. Aurora Police have not confirmed the identity of those men.
At that same apartment complex, Denverite reporters saw multiple mice and bedbugs; mold growing in a bathtub; a stove that hasn’t worked for two months; a sink that won’t drain; and a broken fan.
However, the entire city of Aurora has not been taken over by the gang, as the Colorado Republican Party claimed in a fundraising email. Police have been at The Edge at Lowry speaking with residents, and the Aurora police chief says that no gang is running the apartment complex. Residents said the same at a Tuesday press conference at the building.
Mayors in both Denver and Aurora say Tren de Aragua has a small presence in the region and law enforcement is monitoring it carefully, making arrests when appropriate — and that they will continue to do so.
“We think this is a vanishingly small number of people,” said Denver Mayor Mike Johnston. “And we feel very confident (that the) situation’s under control, and we are ahead of the curve on being able to prevent more violence from happening.”
We also know that both cities have long histories with violent crime and criminal organizations that date back decades before the arrival of more than 40,000 new immigrants.
Beyond that, the truth gets murky.
What is Tren de Aragua?
Tren de Aragua, translated Aragua Train, is a gang that was formed by prisoner Héctor “El Niño” Guerrero more than a decade ago in the Tocorón prison in the Venezuelan state of Aragua.
The group took over the prison, installing “a professional baseball field, swimming pools, children’s play equipment — even a small zoo, with monkeys and flamingos,” the Washington Post reported.
When the Venezuelan government took the prison back from the gang in September 2023, Guerrero was not there, but prisoners’ family members, including children, had apparently been left behind.
“Over the past six years, Tren de Aragua leader Niño Guerrero has expanded the group’s criminal network throughout South America and recently extended north into Central America and the United States,” the State Department wrote in a July statement.
For years, the international police organization INTERPOL and governments throughout the Americas have pushed to arrest people tied to Tren de Aragua.
The gang’s activities have spread from Venezuela to Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Panama, and the United States, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
In July 2024, the Biden-Harris administration and Treasury Department declared sanctions on the gang for a variety of criminal activities including “human smuggling and trafficking, gender-based violence, money laundering, and illicit drug trafficking.”
That same month, the United States joined Colombia in offering a $5 million reward for the capture of Guerrero and $7 million more for the capture of other leaders.
Multiple news outlets have reported that the gang has roughly 5,000 members worldwide, though Denverite has not been able to independently confirm that.
What is Tren de Aragua's presence in Colorado?
Tren de Aragua has a presence in Denver and Aurora, according to city spokespeople.
In June, the family-owned jewelry store Joyeria El Ruby, in Denver’s West Highland neighborhood, was robbed at gunpoint. Police said eight people were involved. Four suspects, Oswaldo Lozada-Solis, 23; Jesus Daniel Lara Del Toro, 20; Jean Franco Torres-Roman, 21; and Edwuimar Nazareth Colina-Romero, 18, were later arrested in El Paso, Texas, in connection to the Colorado crime. They are suspected of being members of the gang.
More recently, Aurora Police also arrested Jhonardy Jose Pacheco-Chirino, who goes by the nickname “Galleta,” translated “cookie,” in connection to a July 28 shooting at the Fitzsimons Place apartments. The New York Post described him as a “shot-caller” in the gang. But a spokesperson for Aurora said the city’s police department was not aware of his actual status in the gang.
“We are able to confirm Pacheco-Chirino, 22 … is a documented member of Tren de Aragua (TdA),” said Aurora city spokesperson Ryan Luby. “The department is not aware of his status within the gang. He is currently in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
The Aurora Police Department recently joined the Colorado State Patrol and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to form a regional group focused on Tren de Aragua.
“This task force will assist agencies throughout the region with their ongoing investigations with the goal of enhancing communications, sharing intelligence and maximizing investigative resources,” Matthew Longshore, a public information officer for Aurora Police, wrote in a statement.
While the Colorado GOP and an army of TikTokers have claimed Tren de Aragua has taken over Aurora, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman has said that’s not true.
“The problems associated with Venezuelan gang activity has been isolated to properties that are all under the same out-of-state ownership whose problems with code violations and criminal activity preceded the migrant crisis,” he wrote on social media.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Denver Police Department told Denverite that its officers are working with Denver apartment managers, residents and others to ensure they stay safe. The department is unaware of any apartments taken over by gangs, the spokesperson said.
“DPD is also committed to holding all criminals accountable, regardless of their immigration status,” the department spokesperson wrote. “To assist in these efforts, the community is encouraged to report suspicious activity by calling or texting 911 for emergencies or contacting Crime Stoppers anonymously. The Denver Police Department does not ask witnesses or victims of crime about immigration status, removing a potential barrier to reporting. Interpretation services are also available for people calling to report crimes.”
What about Tren de Aragua and those Aurora apartments?
CBZ Management, which runs several apartment buildings in Aurora, claims that Tren de Aragua has taken control of its properties, kicked out CBZ Management staff, and forced residents to pay gang members rent — allegations widely reported by the New York Post, Fox News and other outlets.
The owners of CBZ Management are facing legal actions from the City of Aurora that started before the landlord made claims about the alleged Tren de Aragua takeover.
CBZ management declined to speak on the record about the claims and the state of the apartment buildings.
Mayor Coffman described the owners as out-of-state “slumlords” in early August. And years of online reviews describe the company’s apartments as unclean, poorly maintained and hotbeds of crime.
Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky has amplified the landlord’s message.
“A GANG HAS TAKEN OVER entire apartment complexes in Aurora,” she wrote on social media.
“The national news outlets are doing a great job of their reporting on the Tren de Aragua gang that is in the Denver Metro area,” she added. “I will continue to speak out until our border is closed and this gang is addressed! I hope the local media will now step up and help with the truth.”
News outlets across the United States and even in Venezuela broadcast a video of armed men entering an apartment at one of the complexes. Journalists and politicians claim the video proves members of Tren de Aragua control The Edge at Lowry apartment complex.
CBS News’ Tori Mason interviewed a former resident of The Edge at Lowry who said she recorded the video. Cindy Romero reported seeing an increase in crime over the past year and a half at the complex. She told the station she saw people with automatic weapons and witnessed shootouts, saying the police did little to help her.
"The police would call me and say they weren't coming unless it was a severe crime," Romero told Mason. "When I called the police to report a shooting, one officer asked if I had considered moving. If I could have afforded to leave, I would have."
But some residents of the building, at a press conference on Tuesday, said the men in the video were not residents. It was a one-time event, they said. And while they were concerned about the crime, the video did not demonstrate anything about Tren de Aragua or other gangs controlling the building, they argued.
What do Aurora officials say about the apartment buildings and Venezuelan gangs?
Coffman has denied that the apartments have been “taken over” by Tren de Aragua. But he has also said there is “Venezuelan gang activity” on site.
Aurora’s Interim Police Chief Heather Morris said officers have spent weeks at an apartment community at 12th and Dallas. Officers walked the grounds, trying to better understand what was actually happening, she said.
“We’ve been talking to residents here and learning from them about what’s been going on,” she said. “And there’s definitely a different picture. I’m not saying that there’s not gang members that … live in this community. But what we’re learning out here is that gang members have not taken over this complex.”
Meanwhile, Coffman posted to Facebook that the City Attorney’s Office was planning more dramatic action at the apartment buildings in response to gang activity.
The city office is “preparing court documents to request an emergency court order to clear the apartment buildings where Venezuelan gang activity has been occurring by declaring the properties a ‘Criminal Nuisance,’” he wrote.
“This will require a municipal judge to issue the order with the goal of getting these properties back under the control of the property owners,” Coffman continued.
The City of Aurora has already shut down one CBZ Management apartment, Fitzsimons Place on Nome Street, leaving more than 300 individuals to face homelessness, stay in city-funded motel rooms, or find other apartments.
Some residents were critical of the city's heavy hand. Instead of sending city workers to help the residents, the only government employees to be found were the police and zoning code enforcers.
During that mass displacement, more than a dozen residents told Denverite that crime and gang activity were not major concerns at Fitzsimons Place. Denverite spent 16 hours at the community and did not see armed men or criminal activity.
While the city shut down that apartment community over habitability issues, it also was recently the site of a shootout this summer tied to the gang.
What’s the scope of Tren de Aragua’s harm?
Walk through Aurora, and it’s clear: The gang has not taken over the city, even as some gang members have committed a handful of crimes. Blocks away from The Edge at Lowry, neighbors shop in local stores, mow their lawns, ride their e-bikes and carry on life as usual.
The victims of Tren de Aragua’s shootings and human trafficking crimes are largely Venezuelan immigrants themselves.
Coffman, Johnston and Morris have all encouraged victims of the gang to contact police and have reminded them that they are safe in doing so regardless of what documents they do or don’t have.
“There has been a lot of misleading information shared about what is happening in our city,” city spokesperson Luby said. “Aurora is a safe community. Media have conflated and considerably exaggerated incidents that are isolated to a handful of problem properties alone.”
Mayor Mike Johnston told 9NEWS’ Kyle Clark that the presence is much less significant than that of American street gangs like the Bloods or the Crips. Both gangs have been tied to acts of violence in both cities for decades and continue to have a strong presence in the metro.
What are other state and local leaders saying about Venezuelan gangs?
Gov. Jared Polis has offered state support to Aurora.
“Colorado is a zero tolerance state for illegal activity, taking over buildings has no place in Colorado, and I am confident that the city of Aurora shares this basic value and will enforce the law if it is being violated there,” he wrote in a statement. “I urge them to do so quickly and in a thorough manner.
“Over the last month, I have been in regular contact with the City of Aurora and the Aurora Police Department and have offered any and all state assistance to support their efforts if requested,” he continued. “The state has been ready for weeks to back up any operation by the Aurora Police Department needed to make Aurora safer.”
In response, the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization that has advocated for immigrants for decades, rebuked the governor for his statement:
“We are disappointed to see you participate in disinformation and stereotyping,” the organization wrote the governor on Facebook. “In Colorado we value accurate and complete investigations and being provided facts. This post provides neither and doesn’t provide a starting point for real conversations about the tensions we see in community.”
In the meantime, the situation has been a statewide and national focus for Republicans.
“Colorado is under violent attack,” claimed the Colorado GOP, in a recent newsletter.
Legacy media, according to the statement, “is working harder to cover up the illegal immigrant crisis than it is to bring the truth to Colorado families. Venezuelan gangs have taken over Aurora; residents are living in fear as lawlessness and violence rock entire apartment buildings and communities.”
The Colorado GOP also accused law enforcement of letting Tren de Aragua run rampant, and it shared a tweet from a person proposing the National Guard be called in.
The party claimed Councilmember Jurinsky and conservatives have inspired liberals and conservatives alike to speak out “against what they call a very scary situation, where they are powerless against violent illegals at their doorsteps.”
Finally, the state GOP used the situation in Aurora to push people to vote Republican and to go far beyond just combating Tren de Aragua. The party encouraged its base to push for the removal of all undocumented immigrants from Colorado.
“Encourage your city and county to become a non-sanctuary locality,” the party wrote. “If you see illegal migrants in your town, attend your city council meetings and tell your elected officials you want this to stop.”
Even former President Donald Trump amplified the message on the Lex Fridman podcast.
“You see in Aurora, Colorado, a group of very tough young thugs from Venezuela taking over big areas, including buildings,” he said. “They're taking over buildings. They have their big rifles, but they're taking over buildings. We're not going to let this happen. We're not going to let them destroy our country.”
Aurora officials and residents have, again, denied that the buildings were taken over.
"We have verified and documented 10 TdA members in Aurora," Aurora Police spokesperson Moylan wrote. "Six remain in custody."
Johnston says roughly 15 or 20 of the more than 40,000 new immigrants who arrived are committing crimes in Denver. The police are monitoring them with both covert and overt operations. And there is not a public safety crisis associated with the gang, Johnston says.
“We are very confident that this is not a crisis facing the City and County of Denver,” he said. “We are monitoring it closely like we monitor any public safety issue in the city. We do not have any situation where we have gangs that have overtaken apartment buildings or neighborhoods or anything else in Denver.”
In fact, the only crime Johnston said he’s aware of associated with Tren de Aragua was the heist at the jewelry store.
“We continue to see that the overwhelming majority of newcomers who arrived are working two to three jobs and do everything they can to take care of themselves and their family,” Johnston said. “And they came here to try to pursue the American dream. And so they are great additions to the community.”
As Johnston sees it, the national media blitz over the Aurora apartments is just one more example of a story blowing up in the context of the national presidential election.
“In a time with a pretty high profile, pretty confrontational presidential election, there are a lot of folks that would like to make national stories and national crisis out of things that just aren't,” Johnston said. “This is not a national crisis and not a local crisis. It's an issue we'll be mindful of and careful of, but we do not see any pervasive threat to the safety of Denverites.”
What do community organizers and residents on the ground say?
Nate Kassa, an organizer with the East Colfax Community Collective, told Denverite he and his coworkers have spoken to dozens of residents at all of the CBZ apartments making headlines. Those residents denied the claim that the building had been taken over by Tren de Aragua or other gangs.
At a Tuesday press conference, dozens of people who lived there also shared the same message.
The media coverage and racist rhetoric have put residents in danger, Kassa said.
Denverite reviewed texts sent to renters that referred to the tenants as “animals.”
Multiple residents, Kassa said, have received death threats from strangers.
“I hope you know the Colorado veterans are building a militia with more fire power than you guys could ever imagine,” texted one stranger to a resident.
Denverite toured Moises Didenot's apartment at The Edge at Lowry, where he lives with his wife and his sixth-grade daughter.
His stove hasn’t worked for two months, he said. His sink does not drain. Mold is growing in his bathtub. And gangs of mice, cockroaches and bedbugs infest his apartment.
He says the media has spread lies about who actually lives at The Edge at Lowry.
“They're trying to put us all in one group, put us all in one bag,” said Didenot, flanked by dozens of residents frustrated by the media’s coverage of the apartments and the accusations that Tren de Aragua controls them. “They're trying to say that here there are delinquents, that here there are criminals. Here there are moms, there are families, there are fathers. To me … the only criminal here is the owner of the building.”
Since they moved in, Didenot’s family has been on the verge of eviction.
“Every month they're really going to tell me that they're going to cancel my contract and kick me out when I don't pay,” he said. “But when I ask them to fix the piping that's blocked, the toilets that don't flush, the kitchen that's falling apart — very quickly, they disappear.”
Jeraldine Mazo, a Colombian resident of The Edge at Lowry, said the national media’s claims that Venezuelan gangs have taken over the building have her worried. As she sees it, they’re fueled by racism against Venezuelans.
She said she’s been unable to find work because companies believe she’s from Venezuela.
“We are not causing problems,” Mazo said. “All we want is … a place for us to live, a place for our kids to live with our families.”
Members of Housekeys Action Network Denver, a nonprofit that fights for housing security, have been at all of the apartments in question for weeks and say they have never feared any of the residents.
“Never once were we in fear for our lives, never once were we threatened, never once did we witness any sort of gang activities or even weapons — just vulnerable victims of an oppressive slumlord who would gladly reap millions from their payments and still defile their name,” the group wrote in a statement.
Jennifer Piper, of the American Friends Service Committee, has been working on immigration issues in the metro for more than two decades.
“This election cycle has turned what should have just been a humanitarian issue into a crisis of stereotyping and xenophobia, really, for both parties,” she said. “It's very concerning. I feel like we haven't seen this level of terrible rhetoric, rhetoric from the federal government, since I started doing this work.”
The real story, as she sees it, is that apartments in Aurora are allowed to deteriorate and people are forced to live in undignified places.
“All this stuff about Tren de Aragua is a great distraction from the systemic problems that exist around housing in the city of Aurora,” she said.
What’s next?
Mayor Coffman is pushing the City of Aurora to shut down all the apartments under CBZ Management associated with Venezuelan gang activities.
If that happens, countless families and individuals will face homelessness, Kassa said.
However, a spokesperson for the City of Aurora said on Tuesday that closing the buildings is not immediately on the table.
Meanwhile, the Aurora Police and the larger task force organized around the issue are continuing to research Tren de Aragua.
Tenants, Housekeys Action Network Denver, and the East Colfax Community Collective are asking CBZ Management to fulfill its responsibility to residents and ensure they have basic living standards or relocate tenants to other habitable units.
The group also wants Aurora to back off of Coffman’s plan to shut down the remaining apartments and instead enforce the zoning code against the management company.
This story has been updated to include the perspective of Cindy Romero, a former resident of The Edge at Lowry. We have also added new information from the Aurora Police Department about the number of members of Tren de Aragua that officers have identified and complaints from residents who say their rent was stolen.
