By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice
The retort that claims of the violent Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua’s activity in Aurora are just racially motivated accusations is untrue, John Fabbricatore said on Fox & Friends Weekend.
“The governor has said it is racially motivated. Congressman Jason Crow has said it is racially motivated,” Fabbricatore told the Fox & Friends host. “This is not racially motivated. These are things that are actually happening. People are actually being hurt and they’re not doing anything about it. They would rather put it back on us and spin it toward a racial aspect.”
The former regional ICE director in Colorado has been consistent with his criticism of police leadership.
“The police department needs to do something,” he told Fox & Friends. “There is a definite problem. We know that [Tren de Aragua] is committing assaults, extortion, strongarm and child prostitution. Something needs to be done. [The police] need to get in the community and they need to make some arrests.”
Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinski has been at the forefront of the issue pushing back from the beginning, Fabbricatore said.
“We’re finding out that [police] knew about this well in advance and they’ve been gas-lighting us continuously,” he told Fox & Friends. “We’ve provided videos, we’ve provided pictures, we’ve provided statements, and they still continue to gaslight us.”
In a statement Aug. 29, Aurora police said, “We are aware that components of TdA [Tren de Aragua] are operating in Aurora. APD has been increasingly collecting evidence to show the gang is connected to crimes in the area.”
The statement offered no further specifics as to the gang or the crimes members may have committed.
“Based on our initial investigative work, we believe reports of TdA influence in Aurora are isolated,” the police statement reads. On Friday, Jurinski insisted that never has she claimed the whole community was taken over by the gang.
There are 42,392 illegal aliens in Denver receiving some form of assistance, but it is unclear what the total number of illegal aliens might be there or in Colorado.
“We really have no idea who is in this country right now,” Fabbricatore told Fox & Friends.