Colorado Gov. Jared Polis dismissed anger over Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua taking over apartment buildings in the Denver suburb of Aurora, calling it “imagination” — despite video footage, police reports and the city’s mayor confirming it’s happening.
Polis’ press office offered the snarky statement Wednesday night in response to Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky — who told The Post the gang’s takeovers are tied to his policies.
“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 Post.
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“But, according to police intelligence this purported invasion is largely a feature of Danielle Jurinsky’s imagination.”
Wieman added that “it’s illegal to take over buildings in Colorado” and if Jurinsky has “knowledge” of such activity, the governor’s office is “ready to assist” cops “in taking them back.”
“Violent crime dropped in Aurora between 2022 and 2023,” said Wieman.
Despite the governor’s claims, however, the evidence is clear.
On Wednesday night, Fox Denver aired surveillance video that showed an armed gang of men — later confirmed by cops as suspected members of Tren de Aragua — strolling through an apartment complex in Aurora that residents said has been overrun by the gang.
Three of the men could be seen carrying handguns while another held a rifle as they entered the troubled apartment complex, breaking into a unit shortly before a shootout took place at the complex that left one person severely injured.
Further, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman told Fox News on Thursday that “there are several buildings” that have “fallen to these Venezuelan gangs” in his city.
Coffman said he believes the buildings were used as taxpayer-funded migrant housing, which is what gave the gangs a foothold.
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Denver — a sanctuary city that is just west of Aurora — has received more migrants per capita than any city in the country, most of them from Venezuela. More than 40,000 migrants have arrivedsince December 2022.
The Post asked Polis’ office if he intends to backtrack its statement given the piles of evidence of Tren de Aragua’s takeover, to which Wieman said the governor “really hopes that the city council members in charge stop trashing their own city when they are supposed to keep it safe.
“Over the last month, Governor Polis has been in regular contact with the City of Aurora and the Aurora Police Department and has offered all state assistance to support their efforts if requested,” she said, adding that they expect violent crime to continue to decrease.
The Post exposed the gang’s takeover of apartments in Aurora and identified the area’s “shot-caller” Jhonardy Jose Pacheco-Chirino, who is known as Galleta, or “Cookie” in English.
Pacheco-Chirino alongside his fellow gangsters brutally beat a man at an apartment complex in Aurora.
He was later arrested and then let go on bail.
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During the assault, a witness said, Pacheco-Chirino and his accomplices were “part of a gang that stealsfromWalmart”and claimed “they run” the apartment, according to an affidavit obtained by The Post.
One witness said “she was afraid to talk much because of the dangerous people living in the complex.”
The apartment investor told The Post that they’ve “lost control” of several properties because the gang has taken over units.
“They were first hanging out around the property and creating a bad element that’s constantly there. And then they started taking over, quite a few months ago, they started taking over vacant units.”
In July, Pacheco-Chirino was arrested for a shooting at the same complex, where two men were wounded.
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All the while, Polis has embraced sanctuary policies for Colorado.
In recent months, the governor signed legislation to support their new lives in the state by making it easier for them to obtain driver’s licenses, attend school and obtain taxpayer-funded resources.
When the influx of migrants became too much, Polis made the decision to start busing them to New York City in 2023, through a program that’s since ended.
Still, many stayed and some moved to nearby Aurora — which has a population of 390,000 — where apartments are now under the gang’s control.
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“It’s been a nightmare and I can’t wait to get out of here,” apartment resident Cindy Romero told Fox Denver as she moved out of the building with her husband.
For years, the gang, which hails from Venezuela’s Aragua region, has been sending its members across the US-Mexico border. It’s also expanded recruitment within the US among migrant communities, mainly in New York,Denver and Chicago.
The gang was recently designated as a transnational criminal organization by the Biden administration.
