Seems to me like the OP is trolling y’all. They joined the forum 4 days ago with a handle that says they’re here to make a point, and started two threads that were, in my opinion, bound to descend into debates about highly politicized issues.
I come here to get away from divisive political debates. Let’s keep this forum about paddling.
I agree with your comments re the OP. Quite frankly, I don’t give a rat’s rump about him, her, or it. On the other hand, many contributors to this forum are in their so-called “golden years”. They want to continue enjoying paddle sports for as long as possible. Maintaining good health is central to that goal, and sharing experiences that might help others in that regard is entirely appropriate here, IMO.
Do I think the OP had that in mind? No, not for a minute, but it’s irrelevant. Sure, these threads can and sometimes do drift into partisan politics. It’s not helpful and no one changes their opinion, but the group usually gets itself back on track before too long.
I agree on both counts (I was a permanent resident of Canada for 5 years), and the need to incentivize our health care supply chain differently — not to sell more pills, tests, and procedures, but to more cost-effectively deliver better outcomes couldn’t be more important.
So I’ve paddled a few sketchy places. It’s either at the Putin or takeout, access point. Best to avoid and find alternative but if you are going to do it then don’t leave a vehicle. Better to get dropped off, limit time at access, and get moving on the water. Sketchy- espanola NM, Rio grande, downtown Clarksburg WV, elk Creek, and a few assorted party spots on some WV rivers,some parks on Oahu feature encampments. Limiting engagement is your best strategy. Cold weather also can work in your favor. I can honestly say I’ve taken a homeless high school kid kayaking- living in a campground. He loved it.
Sketchy places? Freudian slip or auto correct getting political …
The Russian army should keep the miscreants away.
The majority of homeless people have jobs but these do not pay a living wage. The first thing that a worker forgoes is their apartment. After the 2008 bankster crash that resulted in more than 2 million foreclosures, the hedge funds bought up the homes at a tremendous discount and now rent them out. This greatly reduced the available houses for sale and also greatly increased rental rates with companies enjoying a monopoly in their area as with Trump’s slumlord son-in-law.
Homeless people are the result of predatory capitalism that minimizes taxes on the wealthy and the creation of monopolies and monopsomies of which Wal-Mart is the perfect example. When a Wal-Mart store is built it puts out of business the many small owner operator and also puts out of work the employees. Wal-Mart then offers half as much in pay and no benefits to these workers. No paid sick leave and no medical benefits for their workers.
Guns are great for increasing suicide rates and mass killings but not for self-defense. I lived in Texas and car accidents would often escalate into gun fights and bystanders were badly injured or killed as a result. Firearms are the number one cause of death of children in the United States.
“…logical debate is only valuable when used among those that will allow logic to override emotions.”
Sooo, the recent statistics I shared from sources like the National Institute of Health, the CDC, Time Magazine, Harvard University and the Pew Research Center (among others) you dismiss whole cloth with a sweep of your indignation (which is an emotion, by the way) as “leftist…with a dedicated purpose to skew the truth”. Common argument loser logical fallacy: dismiss any evidence that does not agree with your stance by demonizing the source, and throw in a sprinkle of ad hominem.
And you offer as “rebuttal” two selected links that are commentary on the same single 25 year old statistical analysis and follow it with propaganda from the Koch-Funded, Libertarian extreme right wing Ayn Rand worshipping think tank, Foundation for Economic Education, and from a Tea Party, NRA and Fox News commentator. And you think they don’t have an “agenda”?
Alrighty, then. Enjoy your life.
“Alrighty, then. Enjoy your life.”
Thank you!
I do.
Some here will remember when the Reagan administration cut federal funding for housing mentally ill patients that were institutionalized at the government’s expense. I was living in Michigan at the time in Ann Arbor. There was a huge increase in homeless people with mental health issues. One day I was walking down the street on my way to a music store where I was going to pick up a guitar I was having repaired. One street person who was either high or having some kind of delusional episode, got in my face screaming at me, and pushing and shoving me. He took a swing at my face and I dodged it and hit him very hard on the adam’s apple and threw him backward, the street was icy and he hit the hard sidewalk with a thud and stopped moving. The owner of the guitar store ran out and got me inside, he had already called the police. The police and paramedics worked on the guy for quite a while and took him away in the ambulance. I had to give a statement to the police and they left. You can’t imagine how bad I felt that I had injured this guy, I still see his astonished face when I hit him with a self defense move I was taught in training for a job. I can’t imagine if I had a gun if I would of shot him, and if I did how would feel if I did, not to mention I believe the police would want more than a statement. I own guns, but I don’t ever imagine shooting a homeless person, having known several street people and knowing their stories.
I would not have felt bad for a second.
A lot of the people who were let loose then were Vietnam veterans with severe issues. A lot of guys were sent to Vietnam and picked up drug habits or fell into drug habits when they got back trying to cope with PTSD. I was raised in a strict christian religion and we had to memorize Mathew 5, the sermon on the mount, that includes …But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. I worked as a missionary and met many people who lived on the street or in camps in the forest, most of them were just like the rest of us but had a stream of bad luck and losses that they could not cope with. It might be good if all the people who claim to be Christians today, study and memorize the sermon on the mount. Disclaimer I’m an atheist now, so there, I think I probably have offended everyone.
I took the bait and responded to this guy’s first post with the write-up that I did on homelessness on one of my favorite local runs. I’ve stayed out of it since, mostly because I don’t know how to respond to the problem. @SeaDart’s post got me thinking about my last run there.
I am an early riser, so it is not unusual for me to head out just after sunrise. A couple of months ago I was at the park at the top of this run, and saw a group huddled on a park bench smoking cigarettes. I walked by them and said “hi” – they said “hi” back. Young people - three men, two women – bundled up in heavy coats, definitely looked like they had a tough night. I thought it was odd that they were in the park so early in the morning, but didn’t think about it too much and went on my way. It was only later when I saw one of them walk over to a tent by the river that I realized why they were there. I have kids that age – and can’t imagine them having to live that way.
An example of the face of homelessness in America – one of many. Easy to ignore or complain about (I’ve done both), but not so easy to solve the problem.
We used to ask “why are all those VN vets so crazy?!”
But now we know because they saw behind the curtain.
My take on it is as follows:
what happened that day was bad. OK that’s a given. Is it worse then if you’d left the crazy man to attack others? If it had been a small woman or child he was attacking would they have been as well trained or as capable as you were?
I am a former Marine and I earned my living either doing violent acts or teaching others to do violent acts WHEN NECESSARY. From other Marines, Navy SEALS, Federal police, State Police and Sheriff’s offices in 2 states, NATO allies, and many in the private sector, and I did this kind of work from the end of the Vietnam War until about 4 years ago. I do know my way around the skills and I also understand the dynamics of violence, as well as the overview in areas where it’s a policy to punish those using it to defend themselves. A well armed and well trained populaces is ALWAYS the safest from a practical and historical prospective. Well trained not just in the use of force but in the history of law and of economic systems (all of which are funded by taxes or by tribute in all of recorded history)
I carry a gun all the time. As in 100% of the time — unless I am sleeping and in the times I am not actually carrying on on my person I am never more then about 2 feet from one. Why?
#1. I am a country boy from the days of Kindergarten. I got my 1st revolver when I was 12 (it was a different country then) I carried a gun in much of my youth and all my adult life, so carrying one is just part of my clothing. I shot it and other guns a lot for fun but also to keep coyotes, foxes, raccoons and skunks away from the chickens and ducks as well as dealing with the occasional feral dog. But the idea of using a gun to shoot a human was foreign to me until I joined the Marine Corps and I remember the sickly feeling I got when the NCOs were 100% honest with us and told us that we needed to kill of be killed in combat, and we were going to learn how to win so we would not be killed.
All simple words, and you’d think they are all fairly obvious when you are not the man actually doing it, and as soon as I was that man and it came down to the base level the words took on their truest and ugliest meaning. Even after intense training, my first fight was not when I though it would be and I did a lot wrong. It turns out that the gut reaction you have to such a fight were not be communicated in training. In the years following, when the powers that were decided that I should train others, I dedicated a lot of my time to training the men and women about the why. Not just the how. There are hundreds of schools all over the nation and many in other places in the world (some of which have had me train their teachers) that teach the how. How is 1%. 99% is the why.
As a side note I am a devoted Christian and a minister (in fact I am the preacher tomorrow morning in a church that’s asked me to give a message) So I also do have a good foundation in what constitutes righteous use of violence and what doesn’t. In a nut shell, the righteous use of force is defined by using it to protect something more important than yourself and the unrighteous use of violence is when it’s used for self gain. Jesus Himself, shortly before his execution ordered his followers to get swords, and if they had no money to buy one to sell their clothing to get the money and buy one. In the garden Peter used a sword to try to defend Jesus but was rebuked by Jesus because Jesus needed to go to the cross to fulfill the old scriptures and pay the price for the sins of mankind and therefore could not be defended but it was only a few hours before that Jesus told Peter and all his disciples to get swords. Why? Because they would need to defend themselves in the coming years so they could have time to spread the Gospel Message, to a point it would start to spread all over the world. So the message was in the minds and the mouths as well as needing to be written down and disseminated by the apostles and disciples of Jesus, and to silence that message evil men would do all the could to it . Those who serve evil still do that today!
I am old so I am no longer the keen warrior I was 50 years ago, but in training with my young friends (several in their early 30s) I find I still do better then most men who are in their 70s with my hands and also with improvised tools, but age is taking it’s toll on me and today my mission is to pass on the why to all I can. I still teach the how, but always the why 1st. In the last 4 classes I taught to Sheriff’s departments I demanded 16 hours of class room instruction for every deputy in study of the US Constitution and the reasons for each article, and the first 10 amendments (Bill of Rights) before I’d teach 1 minute of combatives. All those that took my class told me they were very glad I did it that way, because they are NOT taught such history and meaning from their POST academies.
In the old days (sadly no more) God, Country, Corps was something that was central to the USMC. Note the order!
God. To fight for what’s right. Not for what’s profitable or what’s beneficial only to those that want more power.
Country. That is not dirt and area. It’s the ideal of what made the USA different, which IS the Constitution and Bill of Rights (Not privileges. RIGHTS! That come from God and never from Government) Lots of empires have risen and fallen over the 6,000 years of recorded history and all the dirt and mountains are still there. But the ideals spoken of in the Bible and codified into the foundation of the Constitution are what made for the most prosperous and beneficial nation in world history since the days of Solomon and ancient Israel.
Corps. The loyalty to the Fellow Marines you serve with. The idea that we are all in this together we have each others backs and are a brotherhood. It’s something I have never seen anywhere else in my life and civilian life have no parallel.
But the order is vital. God is the author of Liberty and the founder of the understanding that Rights and life comes from Him and is not given by men or the idols of men. Country is not dirt or even people because people die and are born and replace those from a previous generation. Country is an ideal. It’s not what most think it is if their thinking is engrossed only in selfishness. Corps is the idea that being loved, understood, paid well, or even appreciated are not reasons to serve. Jesus knew his own people would turn on him and demand he be tortured to death and yet knowing that in advance, he gave his life willingly.
So yes I carry a handgun and I am almost always not too far from a rifle. Not to exact vengeance. Not even for the primary use to protect myself. It’s to stop evil. In so doing I may protect many many others from violence. Also in being one that is obviously armed it has a tendency to keep career criminal from starting their actions, knowing that armed reaction is likely and bad for them personally. Criminals do not want to fight. They want folks to surrender. They want total power and when it’s taken from them they want to go somewhere else and find people that will give it to them. (Arora Colorado is one example)
Open carry will do nothing to stop a crazy demonic person who doesn’t value their own life and obviously doesn’t value yours either, but a well placed bullet will. If it comes from a cop 20-40 minutes after the killing starts or it comes from a citizen 4 seconds into the crime can be the difference between a low or non-existent body count of innocent people and a high body count of innocent people.
God’s word tell us to love God first, others 2nd and ourselves last.
The exact opposite of what everyone else tell us. Cut, run, hide, don’t risk yourself in physical ways or legal ways and just feel bad about letting some monster kill at will, so you can be safe. To your credit SeaDart, YOU didn’t do that. I’d suggest you consider who would have been next after you if you’d run and hid. You should not feel bad at all. You did the right thing!!!
Run Hide and feel bad for others for years…Or… Be the righteous warrior and stand in the gap. You may be killed, and you may be harmed, and you may have to do some killing and tthe “law” my make political points from your actions ….but you may save the lives of many others in doing so.
And if you save many you will probably not be praised by those that serve Satan and in fact will almost certainly be attacked by those that want everyone to be slaves to the will of evil men.
But you can judge a man better by who his enemies are then by who his friends are. I’d actually worry if communist and Satanists liked me. So far they don’t, and that’s the best place for me to be.
No regrets for protecting yourself. But any normal self respecting human with an ounce of empathy would have some remorse for putting another person in the hospital and threatening their life.
A few years ago a guy attacked me in a restaurant and clearly was interested some serious violence. He came at me from across the room and I put the leg of an oak chair in his sternum. He left. I know I busted him good, but had no choice really. I have some remorse for that incident because I probably cracked his sternum.
To anyone who followed the more tiresome tirades in this thread, the Aurora Police Department and all the news services have responded that the alleged “Venezuelan gang takeover of apartment complex” was completely fabricated. No such situation ever existed there. All mentions of it have been withdrawn and/or corrected. Bear in mind that agencies of outside agitation (a lot of it channeled from Russian sources) are fabricating these “chaos stories” in order to reinforce certain political scenarios of “lawless cities” when, in fact, violent crime rates have dropped dramatically in the past few years. The Justice Department just put the hammer down on a bunch of them, including some Americans colluding directly with the Russians, proven by interception of communications.
Also, though police officers have to regularly qualify on their shooting skill. 90% never fire a weapon on duty during their careers. Those that do only hit their intended target about 50% of the time. In the case of police pursuits, last year 320 bystanders were killed by police misfirings, 27% of the total fatalities in those incidents. Again, these are people trained in weapons and who regularly test on their use. The average non law enforcement gun toter is not trained nor practiced. It does NOT make me (or any sane person) feel “safer” to be surrounded by a large percentage of fellow civilians who are carrying a firearm and have little or no experience in firing it, particularly in a chaotic emergency. And law officers I have known personally don’t like the fact either: being surrounded by armed civvies only makes their jobs more dangerous and anxiety creating.
By: Robert Garrison
Posted 11:30 AM, Sep 02, 2024
Aurora, Colorado, has been in the national spotlight due to unconfirmed reports of a Venezuelan gang taking over an apartment building after a video showing a group of armed men inside an apartment complex went viral.
The Aurora Police Department shared a video Friday of officers engaging with residents of The Edge at the Lowry apartment complex, located at 1218 Dallas Street. It’s one of several buildings at the center of concerns regarding alleged activity by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua — also known as TdA.
Interim Aurora Police Chief Heather Morris said in a police-provided interview that officers found no evidence of a gang takeover.
“We’ve been talking to the residents here and learning from them to find out what exactly is going on. And there’s definitely a different picture. I’m not saying that there’s not gang members that don’t live in this community, but what we’re learning out here is that gang members have not taken over this complex,” Morris said.
Still, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said the city is seeking an emergency court order to shut down apartment buildings that he claims have been overrun by the Venezuelan gang by declaring them a criminal nuisance.
Coffman said the apartments seeing gang activity are all under the same ownership, and had multiple code violations and criminal activity preceding the migrant crisis.
Despite unfounded claims of gang takeovers, Denver metro police agencies, including APD, did confirm that TdA is operating in the metro area, and the City of Aurora said they are taking the threat seriously.
“Yes, we are concerned that there is a small Tren de Aragua (TdA) presence in Aurora and we have been taking it seriously. We have responded. We have made arrests. We will continue to make arrests. We will continue to address the problems that the absentee, out-of-state owners of these properties have allowed to fester unchecked. Aurora will aggressively pursue all actions available under city code and criminal statute,” the city said in a statement.
RELATED STORY | Concerns spread of Venezuelan prison gang causing trouble in Denver area
A TdA member identified as Jhonardy Jose Pacheco-Chirino was arrested last month in connection with a double shooting at 1568 Nome Street in Aurora. He is currently in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Another high-profile crime in the Denver metropolitan area was connected to four Venezuelan nationals, who were arrested in El Paso, Texas, in connection with an armed jewelry store heist in Denver in June.
Gov. Jared Polis posted a statement on social media stating that the state is ready to offer any assistance to APD if requested.
“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. 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. The state has been ready for weeks to back up any operation by the Aurora Police Department needed to make Aurora safer.” Polis said.
Activists told Scripps News Denverthat the national attention on the presence of TdA in Colorado could harm immigrants who are not associated with the gang.
Nate Kassa, a community organizer for the East Colfax Community Collective, said the headlines are making life more challenging for the vast majority of immigrants who recently came to Colorado and have nothing to do with TdA.
“That screams to me ‘racist.’ It screams to me that it’s capitalizing on a political opportunity to push hate against immigrants,” Kassa said.
This story was originally published by Robert Garrison at Scripps News Denver.
Please note the legal definition of the word “Immigrate”;
“The lawful transference of residency and citizenship from one nation or country to another”
Lawful.
Anyone catch that little detail?
Coming into the USA illegally is not lawful.
Invaders are NOT “immigrants.” The communists love to call them immigrants but that’s like calling murder health care.
“completely fabricated” ?
DENVER—As early as November 2023, armed Venezuelan gang members began terrorizing residents of an Aurora, Colorado, apartment building, according to a Denver law firm hired to investigate.
Law firm Perkins Coie’s 10-page letter to city officials details how the Tren de Aragua gang took over the Whispering Pines Apartments using threats of murder, intimidation, and beatings.
Evidence also indicates that gang members have engaged in “flagrant trespass violations,” including human trafficking, Attorney T. Markus Funk said.
Other alleged crimes included extortion, unlawful firearms possession, and sexual abuse of minors, “often targeting vulnerable Venezuelan and other immigrant populations.”
“The gang’s [motive] appears to be to unlawfully move gang members, as well as vulnerable immigrant families, into vacant units,” Funk wrote in the Aug. 9 letter to the mayor, city manager, and interim police chief.
“The gang also forces rent-paying residents out to create more open units and use the apartment for purposes of illegal activities such as prostitution.
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“The gang, which operates in the open and uses firearms to patrol ‘their property,’ has intimidated staff, stabbed at least one vulnerable immigrant in the apartments because of alleged non-payment, and otherwise terrorized the community.”
The law firm represents the lender for Whispering Pines, a 54-unit apartment complex at 1357 Helena St. The average monthly rent is $1,450 to $2,000.
Funk said that Tren de Aragua has threatened or attempted to kill management staff since they began infiltrating the building around November 2023.
In one case, an apartment manager was so badly beaten that he had to go to the hospital. He later left the state in fear for his safety.
Gang activity at Whispering Pines has escalated in 2024, Funk said.
Based on interviews with tenants, around 10 gang members threatened to execute a “business plan” unless the property manager agreed to surrender vacant units.
One gang member reportedly told a housekeeper: “If he doesn’t like it, we’ll fill him with bullets.”
“The housekeeper understood the reference to be to the gang’s ‘business plan’ of extortion,” Funk wrote.
Recent video footage shows gang members moving about the building in large numbers and kicking doors open.
“This conduct’s brazen and public nature further exhibits the suspected gang members’ sense of comfort and control consistent with their taking over the property and not fearing the law enforcement or the property management,” Funk wrote.
Funk said the firm wants to meet with city officials to discuss returning the building to management control and the “helpless Whispering Pines residents, and the Aurora community.”
Aurora officials, however, have said that gang violence was “isolated” as the city seeks legal action to shut down apartment buildings with known gang activity.
Before the gang activity started, most residents in the quiet and picturesque suburb of Aurora were not interested in becoming a sanctuary city like Denver—still, Mayor Mike Coffman said, it made little difference to state officials. Sanctuary jurisdictions generally shield illegal immigrants from federal immigration authorities, often by banning local law enforcement from cooperating with immigration agents.
Coffman said unvetted illegal immigrants have been moving into several private housing complexes in Aurora since 2023, regardless of whether the city wanted them to or not.
The influx of illegal immigrants, some of whom with unsavory ties to Tren de Aragua, appears to have been funded by state and federal taxpayer dollars distributed by local nonprofits, he said.
The task for city officials now, Coffman said, is to trace the steps and the funding that made it happen as Aurora “pays the price” with increased crime at these apartment building complexes.
“If I felt this is the new normal, I’d feel a lot worse,“ Coffman said. ”I don’t think this is the new normal. I feel we can develop strategies to combat it.”
Police records show that CBZ Management owns several multi-family apartment building complexes in Aurora—on Dallas Street and Nome Street, including Whispering Pines and Oak Ridge Apartments on Chambers Road.
On Nov. 21, 2023, officers responded to a CBZ Management apartment building on Helena Street.
Police said the man who answered the door had a gun in his hoodie pocket and was touching it with his left hand before police disarmed him.
One tenant inside another CBZ Management apartment building captured images of a masked migrant wielding an AK-47 rifle. The video has since gone viral.
Despite the City Council’s February resolution affirming that Aurora was not a sanctuary city and that it lacked the resources to aid migrant families, the issue arose.
“Property owners are now coming out of the woodwork, saying they don’t know what to do,” said Danielle Jurinsky, co-sponsor of the council resolution with Steven Sundberg.
“I have absolutely no idea how deep this truly goes,” Jurinsky told The Epoch Times.
Colorado is one of 11 sanctuary states that have welcomed thousands of illegal immigrants.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman is seeking a court order to shut down apartment buildings in the city hosting illegal immigrants with known ties to transnational gangs, in Aurora, Colo., on Sept. 3, 2024. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times
Coffman said there have been shootings, a home invasion, and even threats against other illegal immigrants in recent months by armed gang members.
However, he believes these crimes are “isolated.”
In one incident, police arrested Jhonardy Jose Pacheco-Chirinos, 22, a confirmed Tren de Aragua gang member from Venezuela, in connection with a July 28 shooting.
Pacheco-Chirino is currently in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“I knew there were challenges” associated with the Biden administration border policies, Coffman said, “but not this.”
The city is seeking an emergency court order to clear CBZ Management apartment buildings of known gang and criminal activity.
“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 wrote on Facebook on Aug. 30.
“I strongly believe that the best course of action is to shut these buildings down and make sure that this never happens again.”
CBZ Management said on the company’s website that it owns 11 apartment complexes in Colorado and 11 in New York.
An Aurora police department spokesperson said that Shmary Baumgarten, the owner of CBZ Management, contacted the department on many occasions looking to hire off-duty officers.
“He was told we didn’t have the staffing to provide adequate security at all his properties,” the spokesperson said.
On Aug. 13, the city shut down CBZ Management’s 98-unit apartment complex on Nome Street for code violations and placed tenants in 60 hotel rooms.
“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,” Coffman wrote on Facebook.
The Epoch Times reached out to CBZ Management for comment.
City officials have confirmed that some of the illegal immigrants have ties to the notorious Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang.
“We are aware that components of TdA are operating in Aurora,” said Ryan Luby, Aurora’s deputy director of communications and marketing.
In an Aug. 28 statement, Luby said the Aurora Police Department has been gathering evidence of the connection between gang activity and crimes in the area.
However, Luby said it would be “improper at this time” for the city and police to make any “conclusory statements about specific incidents” or law enforcement strategy and operations.
Tren de Aragua is a transnational criminal organization rooted in prison gang culture at Tocoron Prison in the state of Aragua in Venezuela, according to the National Security Council.
The group’s criminal network has been spreading throughout South America and recently extended north into Central America and the United States.
The U.S. Department of State is offering a reward of up to $12 million for information leading to the arrest of three Tren de Aragua leaders.
The U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Colorado Department of Human Services didn’t respond to requests for comment from The Epoch Times about funding for illegal immigrants.
On Aug. 31, the city of Aurora issued a statement criticizing media outlets for spreading “misleading information” about the scope of the illegal immigrant gang problem in Aurora.
“Local, regional, and national media are leading the nation to believe that Aurora is wholly unsafe. That is simply not true,” the statement said.
“While these isolated situations are rightfully of great concern and warrant increased action and scrutiny, violent crime in the city is down in nearly all crime categories.”
The Aurora Police Department did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for a tour of the impacted buildings.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Michael Johnston did not return requests for comment.
In the meantime, the city has set up a law enforcement task force to arrest Venezuelan gang members.
The corner of Colfax Avenue and Oswego Street near an apartment building housing illegal immigrants, which the city shut down over code violations, in Aurora, Colo., on Aug. 30, 2024. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times
Councilor Sundberg said that forming the task force is a good step but questions whether it is “too little, too late.”
“If it’s not dealt with, it will grow, is what I’m told,” Sundberg told The Epoch Times. “It’s obvious the people just flowed into our city. Whether they’re good actors or bad actors, they’re not vetted.
“We can thank Denver for being a sanctuary city and boasting that they are. Therefore, it attracted migrants, many of which spilled over into our city.”
He described the situation as “unsettling” to the point where he feels apprehensive and locks his doors more often than he used to.
“It’s created a sense of fear—especially after the release of that video,” Sundberg said.
The one question waiting for an answer, Sundberg said, is how unvetted illegal immigrants obtain firearms.
“We can thank our failed federal policies at the border for this,” Sundberg said. “In the meantime, we’ve been listening to the police. They’re scared to go [into the apartments] because of the shootouts.
“It’s frustrating because of inaction,” Sundberg said. “State authorities, as far as our governor, are in denial. They’re still just flooding [migrants] across our borders. We feel helpless,” Sundberg said.
“One of my frustrations is why haven’t we acted sooner, but it takes a coordinated effort with Homeland Security.”
U.S. federal agents arrest a suspected gang member in Hempstead, N.Y., on March 28, 2018. The actions were part of Operation Matador, an anti-gang effort targeting transnational gangs, with an emphasis on MS-13. John Moore/Getty Images
Jurinsky said transnational gang members are taking over apartment buildings.
“They are terrorizing other Venezuelan migrants. They are terrorizing the American people,” Jurinsky said.
“It’s been ignored. The city had downplayed this as code violations at properties. The people have been lied to. I have been lied to.
“I finally decided I’d had enough and that I was going to expose this on my own.”
Jurinsky took action by spearheading a city resolution that Aurora is not and will not become a sanctuary city.
However, she said the city has been losing by default because of the state government’s failure to act and Denver’s sanctuary status.
“They think they’re out there doing the Lord’s work or whatever they think they’re doing,” Jurinsky said. “Now, here we are. These property owners can’t get their properties back. These people are controlling these properties with guns.
“This is sheer chaos.”
On Aug. 31, Aurora police went to the Dallas Street complex to meet with tenants and provide “reassurances” that the situation is under control.
Illegal immigrants rest at a makeshift shelter in Denver on Jan. 6, 2023. Thomas Peipert/AP Photo
One transportation worker told The Epoch Times he’s heard about gang activity, but hasn’t encountered it yet.
“It’s the gang element—that concerns me. You don’t see it every day. It depends on where you are in the city. You see [apartment] blocks deteriorated. It’s not like I see people in the streets with weapons,” he said.
“It’s bad in some pockets. You have to be careful. You have to be situationally aware.”
Things have been quiet since the Nome Street property was closed, according to one business owner speaking with The Epoch Times.
Although he hasn’t witnessed any direct gang activity, he “heard it was happening nearby.”
For Coffman, a former U.S. House representative for Colorado, the names of the gangs are “irrelevant.”
“It’s an organized effort by criminals. They have to be dealt with irrespective of what their name is,” he said.
During the illegal immigrant surge in 2023, Coffman said Aurora took a stance and decided it would not become a sanctuary city.
Hundreds of illegal immigrants line up outside of the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York City on June 6, 2023. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
“The position of the city was that we not expend our resources. We would not be a conduit for state and federal resources to support the migrants,” he said. “It’s not our problem.
“I felt if we did participate, we were really acquiescing to what is a bad immigration policy. It’s up to the federal government to resolve it.”
He said that Colorado ultimately “rolled over” the city when it declared sanctuary status in 2019.
The Common Sense Institute, a Colorado-based nonprofit, estimates that around 42,000 migrants have arrived in the Denver metropolitan area since December 2022, and the city has spent close to $71 million to help them with food, clothing, housing, and education.
Those who didn’t settle in Denver have been making their way into cities such as Aurora, Coffman said.
“We’re suffering from the ramifications of that,” he said, referring to gang activity. “I think TdA is in Colorado. They are thugs working together. To what extent, I don’t know.”
The presence of transnational gang members in Aurora has been a “terrible blow” to the city, he said, and residents are angry, disappointed, and disillusioned.
“But again, it’s about retracing the steps that got us here. I believe some things were done that precipitated this problem,” Coffman said.
“It wasn’t our problem, and yet it turned out to be our problem.”
Nothing to see there. The doorbell cam must have been doctored.