Colorado's Democrat governor denied Venezuelan gang members are taking over apartment buildings in a Denver suburb despite video footage, police reports, and the city's mayor confirming the activity.
Gov. Jared Polis said reports that Tren de Aragua is taking over apartment buildings in Aurora are "imagination."
The governor's press office pushed back after Aurora Republican Mayor Mike Coffman and Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky, also Republican, who said buildings were being overrun by migrant gang members.
"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," spokesperson Shelby Wieman told the New York Post. "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."
Polis' spokesperson said the governor wants Coffman and Jurinsky to stop spreading false news.
The mayor has said he believes the buildings were used as taxpayer-funded migrant housing,
"He [Polis] really hopes that the city council members in charge stop trashing their own city when they are supposed to keep it safe," Wieman said Thursday in a statement to the Aurora Sentinel.
A heavily armed mob was seen on video storming through an apartment complex while brandishing at least one semi-automatic weapon, DailyMail.com reported. A man in a hoodie lugs the high-powered rifle and pounds on an apartment door, while several others wield handguns.
"A GANG HAS TAKEN OVER several apartment complexes in Aurora!" Jurinsky wrote Wednesday on X.
The Aurora Police Department mostly has remained silent about the alarming claims by Jurinsky, Coffman, and Republican congressional candidate John Fabbricatore, a retired ICE agent, the Aurora Sentinel reported.
The sanctuary city of Denver, just west of Aurora, has received more migrants per capita than any city in the country, most from Venezuela, the Post reported. More than 40,000 migrants have arrived since December 2022.
Polis has embraced sanctuary policies, signing legislation that makes it easier for migrants to obtain driver's licenses, attend school, and obtain taxpayer-funded resources.
The Biden administration recently designated Tren de Aragua as a transnational criminal organization.