The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Tuesday that four suspected transnational gang members were arrested in connection with Tren de Aragua’s alleged takeover of an Aurora, Colorado, apartment complex.
Authorities told KDVR that six people were arrested this week at the Ivy Crossing Apartments. They are reportedly facing “a variety of charges” related to drugs and vehicle theft. Four of the detained individuals are suspected members of the violent Venezuelan gang.
‘We developed a plan.’
Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown told KDVR, “We’re looking for any violation that we can stop and make contact with somebody and addressing the issues that they might have.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security joined forces with the sheriff’s office to conduct proactive patrol around the apartment complex on August 21. As a result, the agencies seized one stolen vehicle, ketamine, and 750 counterfeit pills.
“There had been some conversation that there were some things going on in our jurisdiction and we developed a plan,” Brown told the news outlet.
It is currently unclear how the four individuals are connected to Tren de Aragua.
Last week, KDVR shared a video of five men armed with guns storming through Edge at Lowry, another apartment complex in Aurora. A separate video captured a man using a hammer to break a deadbolt lock on an apartment door in the same complex.
Former residents Cindy and Edward Romero warned that the area had turned into a hotspot for TDA gang activity after illegal immigrants started to move into the complex. They called living at the apartment “a nightmare,” noting that their vehicle was riddled with bullet holes due to a shootout that occurred last month.
Along with locals, Aurora City Council member Danielle Jurinsky has sounded the alarm about the increased gang presence in the area, blaming the uptick in criminal activity on neighboring Denver’s sanctuary policies that have prompted illegal aliens to spill over into Aurora.
“In the entire Denver metro area, it has been like pulling teeth to get anyone, the media, other elected officials, to get anyone to acknowledge the presence of this trend and to acknowledge that there is even a problem,” Jurinsky recently told Fox News Digital.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, has claimed that the TDA invasion is largely a figment of Jurinksy’s “imagination,” Blaze News previously reported.
“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,” a spokesperson for the governor recently told the New York Post. “But according to police intelligence, this purported invasion is largely a feature of Danielle Jurinsky’s imagination.”
Local law enforcement has contended that TDA’s influence in the area is “isolated,” despite reports that the gang has managed to take over several apartment complexes.
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Crime, News, Aurora, Colorado, Illegal immigration, Immigration, Open borders, Sanctuary policies, Tren de aragua, Gang activity, Gang crime, Politics