The town of Aurora, Colorado, has been prominently featured in American news since late-August, especially after former President Donald Trump's references to it during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Back then, he said Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang had taken over residency complexes in the town. But ever since some new details have come out— and it seems like a lack of resources and improper management played a role in igniting the claim.
"They're taking over buildings," Trump said during the debate. "They're going in violently."
Claims of the violent Venezuelan street gang, as well as Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, have taken the country by storm. As the Trump campaign adopts the rhetoric and escalates attacks on immigrants as part of his efforts to capitalize on concerns over the southern border crisis, so has right-wing media.
But is the narrative entirely truthful? Not necessarily, according to The New York Times.
How the claims about Tren de Aragua's "violent" takeovers in Aurora started
Aurora officials had been trying to force an out-of-state landlord to fix up three blighted apartment complexes in the East Colfax Corridor, which connects the cities of Denver and Aurora, as far back as May 2023.
In July 2024, the landlord, CBZ Management, which claims to be based in Colorado and Brooklyn, offered a new argument for why it couldn't repair the buildings, which included the Venezuelan gangs taking over, forcing property managers to flee the premises.
In August, right before the story took force across the country, a public relations agent, Sara Lattman, hired by CBZ, pitched a "tip" to the local Fox television network affiliate in Denver.
"An apartment building and its owners in Aurora, Colorado have become the most recent victims of the Venezuelan Gang Tren de Aragua's violence, which has taken over several communities in the Denver area,' she wrote on Fox 31's tip line, according to an email obtained by NYT. "The residents and building owners of these properties have been left in a state of fear and chaos."
The claims also gained strength when a viral video shared on social media showed armed men in the hallway of one of the complexes that ultimately caught Trump's attention. The Aurora Police Department later announced it had arrested 10 members of the gang on charges of "felony menacing," attempted first-degree murder, assault, child abuse, domestic abuse and others.
But the claims have been misleading.
What is currently happening in Aurora
Some of the complexes that have allegedly been taken by the Venezuelan gang have broken windows, no screens, and doors ajar with no functioning locks or even doorknobs. Residents also warn of bedbug infestations and rats, and long stretches of the area running without electricity or water.
There are not, however, armed men blocking passage or extorting rent or protection money. In fact, the imagery is most likely connected to the soaring cost of housing in Denver, bringing new arrivals to Aurora looking for somewhere cheaper to live, and frequently turning to the same ramshackle apartments the city has been trying to clean up.
That is the case of Star Lopez, 29, a resident of one of the complexes, who says that despite what conservative media says, most of the residents in those properties are squatters, occupying the apartments without legal permission.
"Oh, it's taken over, but it's taken over by everybody," Lopez said, admitting she hasn't paid rent since November, and adding that most of the neighbors hadn't either. "It's survival of the fittest."
The aftermath of Trump's claims
Aurora Republican Mayor Mike Coffman recently spoke to the New York Times about his town's recent attention. In a joint statement, Coffman, along with Aurora City Council member Danielle Jurinsky, also a Republican, denounced the rhetoric.
"The overstated claims fueled by social media and through select news organizations are simply not true. Again, TdA's presence in Aurora is limited to specific properties, all of which the city has been addressing in various ways for months," they said.
But despite the lack of evidence on these violent overtakings and its denouncing by city officials, the narrative is already having real-world consequences.
Last month, the city shut down one of the buildings, Fitzsimons Place apartments, at the center of the controversy, emptying it of nearly 200 inhabitants— many, but not all, of them migrants and recent arrivals.
Many landlords have also stopped renting to Venezuelan migrants, said Crystal Murillo, a city councilwoman. Legal aid groups representing tenants and social service nonprofits struggling to house whole families say they are overwhelmed.
"This doesn't compare to any crisis we've ever experienced," said Emily Goodman, senior manager for housing assistance at the nonprofit East Colfax Community Collective, a social service organization in the area.
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