By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice
Cindy Romero was a legal tenant of an apartment complex in Aurora she says was taken over by the violent Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, a takeover some say is just a figment of her imagination.
“I don’t know what your definition of takeover is, but there’s no managers on the ground, no maintenance workers allowed on the property, the housekeepers were getting harassed,” Romero said.
And then members of the gang began changing the locks to the building, she says.
“If the owners aren’t there, managers aren’t there and they changed the locks on the outside of the building, that’s a takeover,” Romero said.
Romero shared her story of surviving the Tren de Aragua takeover of her apartment building Friday during a roundtable discussion led by U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert and Chip Roy, and including two members of the Aurora City Council, former federal ICE Director Tom Homan and regional director John Fabbricatore, state representatives and senators, and a Douglas County commissioner. Missing were any member of management from City Hall or the police department.
“I’ve heard politicians try to say no one tried to take control of any apartment buildings. Cindy experienced it,” said Roy, who represents a district in South Texas heavily impacted by open border policy. “Cindy was on the ground. She witnessed what happened.”
For more than a year, Romero recorded video in her building of gang activity and was a frequent caller to the Aurora Police Department.
“You can absolutely tell when it changed. My calls went from every now and then to 911, to all the time,” she said. “[Police] said there is nothing we can do to stop them from kicking in your door, and there is nothing we can do to keep them from bringing crime to your floor.”
She would call the non-emergency line to the police department and be placed on hold for 45 minutes.
“I was told [police] weren’t coming, that nothing I did was going to make a difference,” she said. “No matter how unsafe I felt, no matter what damage was done, [police] were not coming. They had to get together a large group of officers just to respond there.”
She complains Aurora leadership initially shrugged off the Tren de Aragua takeover of her building as just an issue between a slum landlord and tenants.
“I’m imploring anyone who will listen. It wasn’t my imagination,” Romero said. “We have bullet holes in our car, our tires have been slashed. I had to leave for [the safety of] my life.”
City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinski and a few of her friends helped Romero escape the third floor of the building and relocate elsewhere in the community. One of those friends was business owner Chet Ellefson, who attended Friday’s roundtable.
“[Tren de Aragua members] don’t care about police. There is no fear of the police,” he said. “When we were there, there were 20-something police making sure we were safe. They were moving the good guys out so the bad guys could stay.”
The story of another resident they helped relocate was told by Jurinski.
“She carried a steel pole around with her just to live in the complex,” Jurinski said. That resident is a solid Democrat, Jurinski says, urging that the issue isn’t just a Republican one.
“It was extremely eye-opening,” Ellefson said. “I was literally in a third-world country for a few hours that day. I would say 90% of the doors in the building were kicked in and with ghetto repairs to the doorjamb. When we got there, the officers said they are not allowed to respond unless there are four officers available to respond [to the building].”
Romero shared stories of a day in which automatic weapons held by Tren de Aragua members were removed from the room where “everyone knew they keep the guns”. She captured a still photo of a family being held at gunpoint.
“What are you going to do against a group of people that have automatic weapons?,” Romero asked. “You have to pass through them to get in your car and go to work.”
And so as she recorded the activity of the gang and plead with police for help to no avail, and even her children and grandchildren wouldn’t visit, she says, because of a “terrifying” environment.
“These are real stories. These are real people,” Roy said. “I hope we can all agree this is not a figment of anyone’s imagination, with all due respect to the governor of Colorado.”
While the story is limited to apartment complexes in a limited area of Aurora, “This is not to me an Aurora issue, this is an issue for all of Colorado,” Boebert said.
The apartments lie within City Councilwoman Stephanie Hancock’s ward in Aurora.
“This is a problem that, if not addressed, will spread to every neighborhood,” she said. “Talking about it is great. We need to take action.”
“My contituents are in fear,” said state Sen. Mark Baisley, who co-authored House Bill 24-1128, which he says would have helped Romero and other residents of the building. The bill would have allowed police to inquire as to the immigration status of those in the building and work with ICE.
A declaration has been made by the Aurora City Council that the municipality is not a sanctuary city, but “Denver tax dollars moved these people into Aurora with rent assistance,” Jurinski said. She notes that it has never been said Aurora is completely “runover with gangs”.
Absent policy changes in Washington, D.C., Homan explains deporting the Venezuelans might not be possible.
“This administration doesn’t have a relationship with Venezuela, which means these people can’t be deported,” he said. “What sanctuaries actually do is create a sanctuary for the bad guys.”
“Colorado is a sanctuary state,” Fabbricatore said.
House Bill 24-1128 would have reinstituted the provisions of Senate Bill 06-090, including the lawful cooperation between state and local law enforcement and federal officials related to immigration status of individuals. The bill died in committee on an 8-3 party-line vote, with three Republicans supporting the bill advancing to the House floor and Democrats on the committee preventing it from advancing.
“We fight this for 120 days each session,” said state Rep. Ron Weinberg. “Every bill it feels is written against our police officers.”
The Colorado Legislature takes specific action to divert “money that should be going to police, fire and roads,” said state Rep. Anthony Hartsook. When the funding has been diverted, the funds are not available to properly staff public safety in a community, he says. Aurora police are short 200 positions, Jurinski said.
“What is happening in Aurora is highly concerning,” Roy said. “It has to stop.”
Among the answers, Baisley says, is refiling of HB24-1128, which would be supported by police and sheriff leadership and organizations statewide. The House sponsor was Richard Holtorf, who will not return in the 75th Legislature.