Trump, who held a rally at the Gaylord Rockies Resort in Aurora on Friday, has repeated claims of Venezuelan gang takeovers at the Edge and other apartment complexes managed by the Edge's landlord, CBZ Management.
"They're saying that the Venezuelans came in and started doing bad things," says Carlos Daniel Ordosgoitti, a Venezuelan immigrant living in Aurora. "The elections are coming, and what bothers me is that issue has become so political."
For the past two years, Ordosgoitti has been living at the Edge of Lowry, where activists organized a press conference to respond to Trump's visit. The apartment complex put a national spotlight on Aurora after resident Cindy Romero recorded six armed men walking through the halls and banging on front doors. Although Aurora Police have warrants for five of those Venezuelan men in the video and have arrested one, none of them have confirmed ties to Tren de Aragua (TdA), the gang at the center of the controversy.
National attention that came from that video led Trump to visit Aurora and rally supporters at the Gaylord resort. Trump repeated the claim that Aurora was taken over by Venezuelan gangs and asked his supporters, "What is going on in Colorado?" He promised to fix the supposed crisis.
"It's nothing new except now Trump came," says Moises Didenot. "It's calm here. There's nothing. They're saying a lot of things for the election, but Trump isn't going to win. Immigration is important still, but Trump isn't going to solve anything by getting rid of migrants, if he could even do it. We have work permits, we have [Temporary Protected Status], we have residency. You can't just start deporting us all."
Ordosgoitti said the gang rumors got so bad that he was harassed by vigilantes and journalists. He alleges that a YouTuber edited tattoos and a gun onto him for a video titled "Are Venezuelan Gangs ACTUALLY Taking Over Colorado???" After other residents at the Edge saw the video, many of them stopped talking with media.
"How can they harm someone like that and say they're a criminal?" Ordosgoitti says. "We've been trying to tell people the truth, and they want to believe what they want to believe."
At the Edge, other residents were dancing to merengue and salsa outside their dilapidated apartments, which they say have been neglected by their landlords at CBZ Management. It was far from the image of the gang-controlled apartment complex that Trump described hours earlier.
The press conference was put on by local activists and immigration groups, including the East Colfax Community Collective, Housekeys Action Network Denver (HAND) and the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC).
"We will not allow a person or political party try to tell us who we are or where we belong," says Gladis Ibarra, executive director of CIRC. "Our people were here long before these man-made borders, and we will continue to hold and defend each other as long as it takes."
V. Reeves, an organizer with HAND, says "We were here to confront the racist rhetoric that a lot of vote-hungry politicians have been using. We're here to share what's actually going on, which is that vulnerable residents here are being taken advantage of by slumlords."
Local groups that help immigrants and Venezuelans have been sharing their thoughts about Trump's visit and his message about immigration. Chris Gattegno, the executive direct of Aurora Community Connections, a nonprofit in the Aurora Migrant Response Network, says that he's surprised immigrants are concerned about what Trump's saying, but he gives credit to city officials for their response.
"I personally feel that the officials in Aurora have done a good job of pushing back on the false narrative from the Republicans, and especially Trump on migrants and gang violence," he said. "Those I have spoken to know that they are essentially powerless against someone who lies all the time and has a followership of millions.
The message from different immigrant groups varied. Sue Montoya-Ruiz founded SOS Venezuela, a Denver-based group, to help vulnerable populations in Venezuela. In response to Trump's visit, she says that some Venezuelans are hurting the reputation of those who came legally.
The message from different immigrant groups varied. Sue Montoya-Ruiz founded SOS Venezuela, a Denver-based group, to help vulnerable populations in Venezuela. In response to Trump's visit, she says that some Venezuelans are hurting the reputation of those who came legally.
"It is important to distinguish the Venezuelan immigrants that came to this country legally, obey the law, contribute to our communities, work hard and pay taxes from the criminal element of the recent arrivals that have broken our laws, expect handouts, behave poorly and overburden our educational, social service and law enforcement resources," she says. "The criminal behavior displayed in many of our communities across the country is disgraceful and tends to hurt the reputation of law-abiding immigrants."
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman also commented on Trump, who once called him "Little Mikey" after Coffman lost his seat in Congress in the 2018 election. In a statement, Coffman says he was "disappointed that the former president did not get to experience more of our city for himself," and said that Trump was misleading his supporters about Aurora.
"There were thousands of people who attended the rally today, some of whom might have visited Aurora for the first time, who were able to see firsthand the mischaracterizations of our great community," Coffman says. "I cannot overstate enough that nothing was said today that has not been said before and for which the city has not responded with the facts. Again, the reality is that the concerns about Venezuelan gang activity in our city — and our state — have been grossly exaggerated and have unfairly hurt the city’s identity and sense of safety."
