Trump reacts to yet another conspiracy theory from his weird media diet:
What is one about now? Here are some basics from The Denver Post: Venezuelan gang arrests show threats, violence at Aurora apartment complexes.
The Aurora Police Department on Wednesday publicly identified nine members of a Venezuelan gang charged in 14 separate criminal incidents over the last 10 months, including at least seven events at the apartment complexes that a property management company has said were “taken over” by the gang.
The alleged crimes connected to the Tren de Aragua members include two shootings, several assaults, thefts and instances of threatening people with guns. The allegations also include intimate partner domestic violence and disputes between roommates.
Court records detailing the allegations show that gang members in some instances intimidated and attacked residents at the Edge at Lowry apartment complex at Dallas Street and 12th Avenue, at the now-shuttered Fitzsimons Place apartments at 1568 Nome St. and at the Whispering Pines Condominiums at 1357 Helena St.
The allegations do not include evidence of broad, organized, systemic gang-led extortion or control at the apartment complexes.
More from USAT: Colorado mayor, police respond to Trump’s claims that Venezuelan gang is ‘taking over’
The announcement of the arrests comes weeks after stories began to spread about the Venezuelan gang “taking over” an apartment complex and making its tenants pay them rent. Interim Aurora Police Chief Heather Morris said in a video shared on Aug. 30 that The Edge at Lowry Apartments is not being “taken over” by the Tren de Aragua.
“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,” Morris said in the video. “I’m not saying that there’s not gang members that don’t live in this community.”
Despite Morris’ and city officials’ attempts to debunk the rumors, Trump still made mention of the gang’s presence in the city during the debate Tuesday on ABC News.
[…]
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman and Council Member and Public Safety Chair Danielle Jurinsky released a statement on Wednesday following the arrests and Trump’s comments.
[…]
“TdA has not ‘taken over’ the city,” the statement continued. “The overstated claims fueled by social media and through select news organizations are simply not true. Again, TdA’s presence in Aurora is limited to specific properties, all of which the city has been addressing in various ways for months.”
See, also, CNN (How an empty apartment complex in Colorado became a national battleground over immigration) and NPR (Aurora police chief says there’s no evidence that Venezuelan gang took over apartment).
I would note that Aurora’s population is roughly 390,00 and is part of the greater Denver metro area of almost 4 million people. That should put all of this into some level of proportionality for anyone who can grasp the relative size of 10 arrests (as per USAT) to a city of ~390,000 embedded in a metro area of basically 10 times that amount.
I would also note that Trump clearly gets his “news” and “information” from dubious sources, and then goes on to extrapolate nonsense (as with the pet-stealing story from Ohio). From the linked NPR piece:
KYLE HARRIS, BYLINE: Last week, a video from the Denver suburb of Aurora was seemingly everywhere on social media and then started airing on TV stations. It showed men with guns in an Aurora apartment complex, allegedly filmed by a scared resident. We haven’t been able to independently confirm the source of the video. But when Donald Trump talked about it on the “Lex Fridman Podcast,” he said the facts are clear.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, “LEX FRIDMAN PODCAST”)
DONALD TRUMP: You saw in Aurora, Colo., a group of very tough young thugs from Venezuela taking over big areas, including buildings. They’re taking over buildings. They have their big rifles.
Quite obviously, local law enforcement should address gang violence. And, further, federal law enforcement may have a role to play. The notion, however, that “big areas” of an American city are being taken over and that, therefore, federal government forces need to “liberate” them is not only absurd but is patently false.
Trying to constantly drum up fear about a foreign other that requires strong, if not violent, government action is flatly fascistic.
