By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice
A lack of leadership exists within City Hall administration and at the police department, and it can be credited for the growth in activity by Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua in the City of Aurora, former regional ICE Director John Fabbricatore said Friday during a City Hall roundtable.
Fabbricatore, who holds the Republican nomination for the 6th District seat in the U.S. House, was joined at the roundtable by two members of the Aurora City Council, two members of U.S. Congress, former federal ICE Director Tom Homan, state representatives and senators, a county commissioner and four residents of Aurora. Missing were any member of management from City Hall or the police department.
“Aurora has been underserved by their leadership in the police department,” Fabbricatore said. “I’m hoping, with the hiring of the new police chief, that we’re going to have a police chief that comes in and lets the Aurora [Police Department] do their job, and stop the crime that’s being committed in our community.”
The roundtable, directed by U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert and Chip Roy, was described as a fact-finding, listening session. Those in attendance heard from a former resident of an apartment complex where the gang took over. She claimed to have been on a first-name basis with 911 after calling daily to report illegal or threatening activity.
“The [interim] police chief [Heather Morris] is not going to show up here,” Fabbricatore said. “I’m not trying to tarnish her reputation; it is already tarnished. She dropped the ball on this. Art Acevedo, when he left in January, dropped the ball on this.”
Fabbricatore has often interrupted his campaign for a seat in Congress to use his Twitter/X account as a tip line, where often someone provides a tip and he does the verification. He is one who first identified the activity of Tren de Aragua in Aurora, later verified by an Aurora police press release on Aug. 29.
“We need the right kind of leaders and we don’t have that right now, including the city manager,” Fabbricatore said. “The city manager has been non-existent. No one is here [at the roundtable] from city management.”
He describes a culture of appreciation among police officers for him sharing as “their voice.” City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinski has called for a — possibly unwritten — hush rule to be lifted to allow police officers to discuss what they see on patrol.
“They know what is going on. They see that they are not being able to effectively do their job,” Fabbricatore said. “Community policing is important, and in order to do that we need to have the right amount of police officers on the street.”
He learned from Jurinski that Aurora police are understaffed by 200 positions.
“You are going to have lower crime statistics when you have 200 fewer officers,” Fabbricatore said. “When officers aren’t on the street, looking for crime, making arrests, you’re going to have crime data that is down.”
He complains there are those, including Gov. Jared Polis, who claim what witnesses in Aurora report as untrue. He has provided documentation for many of his claims related to Tren de Aragua on Twitter/X.
“This is what is happening in Aurora, we know it is happening in Aurora,” Fabbricatore said. “It is not anyone’s imagination. Leaders need to get boots on the ground.”
The solutions to prevent the operation of Tren de Aragua in the community and lessen crime related to illegal immigration are proven, he says.
“We want a vetted process to know who is coming into this country. We’ve seen too many terrorists enter and too many criminals enter,” Fabbricatore said. “That’s what is effecting our communities now. We need to get rid of the sanctuary policy in this state and work with ICE so we can keep the whole community safe, that’s the bottom line.”