It was no coincidence that a Venezuelan gang took over an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado.
And it's not just the result of President Joe Biden's illegal immigration policy that opened the border to Venezuelans, unleashing millions of illegal immigrants into the country and allowing crime to run rampant.
Christopher Rufo and Christina Buttons reported for City Journal that the administration supported the Tren de Aragua gang with taxpayer money through state capitals and local refugee support groups.
Official Approval
The horrifying truth is that Americans paid for it all, Rufo and Buttons reported.
“The Biden administration worked with Denver authorities and publicly subsidized NGOs to provide funding and logistics to funnel large numbers of Venezuelan migrants to Aurora, creating a magnet for crime and gangs,” the two wrote.
To make matters worse, some of the nonprofits involved appear to be making huge profits from the situation.
The story begins in 2021, when the Biden Administration signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), allocating $3.8 billion in federal funds to the state of Colorado. The city of Denver, which has declared itself a “welcoming city” for immigrants, used this pool of funds to launch the Emergency Migrant Response Resettlement Program, designed to provide housing and services for the large influx of immigrants.
Denver signed multimillion-dollar contracts with two local NGOs, ViVe Wellness and Papagayo, to provide housing and services to more than 8,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, run by Yoli Casas and Marielena Suarez, respectively, who, according to their biographies, have no experience with large-scale migrant resettlement.
Despite this inexperience, the couple report that the federal government has poured millions of dollars into both organizations: ViVe Wellness received $4.8 million, while Papagayo received $774,000 through ARPA's Immigrant Assistance Grant.
The administration then went all out to provide financial support, sending $10.4 million for three contracts to ViVe and $2.9 million for one contract to Papagayo.
Two contracts went to the Denver Asylum Seeker Program, which provided six months' rent support to 1,000 undocumented immigrants.
“With this funding in hand,[Vive and Papagayo]began working with landlords to house immigrants and subsidize their rent,” Rufo and Buttons continued.
One of those groups, Papagayo, worked with landlord CBZ Management, the real estate company that operates the three apartment complexes currently at the center of the controversy: Edge of Raleigh, Whispering Pines, and Fitzsimmons Place (also known as Aspen Grove).
A former CBZ Management employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, explained how the process worked, saying that last summer, Papagayo representatives began working with CBZ Management to place Venezuelan migrants in the company's Aurora apartment complex: When a Venezuelan individual or family needed housing, the NGO would contact a local property management company, which would match them with available apartments.
It was a thriving business. Papagayo signed hundreds of contracts with property management companies, employees said. NGOs offered up to two months of rent assistance because many immigrants did not have or could not open bank accounts. Within six months, about 80 percent of the residents in these buildings were Venezuelan immigrants, employees said. Employees also said they began to see gang activity and violence in the buildings.
As The New American reported yesterday, the three apartments are Tren de Aragua territory. But that's not the worst, the two reporters continued. Employees revealed that Papagayo had claimed the “migrants” had “stable jobs and income,” Rufo and Buttons reported. “But many of the migrants, who speak little English and have to wait at least six months to get work permits, are not legally eligible for employment, so they struggle to find stable work and end up falling behind on rent payments.”
What followed was, as everyone expected, rampant crime: assault, extortion, drug abuse, child sexual abuse.
Denver officials don't seem to mind, Rufo and Button continued. Using tax money to settle “settlers” is the norm, and the city plans to do just that. Additional funding for “settlers” could balloon to $340 million.
Big trouble
And as The New American reported yesterday, Tren de Aragua has taken over two apartment buildings in Aurora and is active in at least a third. Four members charged with attempted murder were arrested at the southwest border and have since been released.
There are numerous videos showing what goes on at the complex.
The gang also took over a hotel in El Paso, Texas, according to a complaint filed by city attorneys.
According to the lawsuit, police have been called to the Gateway Hotel approximately 700 times since 2022 to respond to serious crimes including arson, theft, robbery and aggravated assault.
According to the lawsuit, video of the disturbance “shows at least one gun being fired, another being used to make threats, men holding knives and another man holding an axe attacking people and causing damage to the hotel in front of security.”
And not surprisingly, police pointed the finger at the gang: “Since the Tren de Aragua organization infiltrated the hotel, there has been an increased series of criminal incidents,” the complaint states.
Tren de Aragua has also been implicated in serious crimes in New York City, including assaulting two police officers.
Two people are responsible for the serial Aragua attacks and the resulting crime wave: President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
