Venezuela's brutal Tren de Aragua gang has wreaked havoc on Aurora, Colorado
Residents of Denver suburb fed up with migrant gang violence
Colorado congressional candidate John Fabbricatore joined 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss why he believes city leaders are 'complicit' in the crisis and his message to voters unconcerned with the implications of sanctuary city policies.
Residents of a quiet Denver suburb are fed up with sanctuary city and border policies as the town struggles with a spillover of migrant gang violence.
"There's a huge increase in violence in these areas in Aurora, where these newly arrived foreign born migrants, many of whom are Venezuelan, have started to grow," former ICE field office director and Colorado GOP congressional candidate John Fabbricatore told "Fox & Friends First," Tuesday.
Denver has welcomed over 42,000 migrants since 2022, costing the sanctuary city more than $72 million, according to city data.
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Migrants walk along the highway through Suchiate, Chiapas state in southern Mexico, Sunday, July 21, 2024, during their journey north toward the U.S. border. ((AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente))
Aurora, which sits east of the Mile High City, has now reportedly become a base of operations for the notorious Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, which has seized local apartment complexes and launched a wave of violent crime.
Gang leader Jhonardy Jose Pacheco-Chirino, nicknamed "Galleta" – Spanish for "Cookie" – allegedly orchestrated the gang's brutal beating of a man at one apartment complex and a massive shootout at another property, according to the New York Post.
Fabbricatore worries the violence will only get worse and slammed Aurora for being "complicit" in the crime, despite the City Council passing a resolution in February stating it will not provide support to migrants brought into the community.
"They're allowing this sanctuary just to come into these areas, and they don't want to push back against it, you know, sanctuary policy as a state policy here in Colorado," he said. "Aurora itself, through the Aurora City Council, has kind of pushed back on it. But we're still seeing a lot of leaders try to ignore it and not let the public know exactly what's going on."
"Many of them cannot even claim asylum. And, you know, unfortunately, there is this mix of a criminal element which contains groups like the transnational criminal organization Tren de Aragua."
Fabbricatore additionally called on communities like Aurora to push back against border policies under the Biden-Harris administration.
"The Biden-Harris administration is complicit in having allowed our borders [to] just be in chaos," he said. "They have allowed this criminal element in. As taxpayers, you have to keep pushing back. You have to say, you know, we're not going to accept this. We just want to know the truth. We deserve our communities to be safe and we deserve for the border to be secure."
Tren de Aragua recently drew attention when it emerged that the brother of the suspect in the killing of Georgia student Laken Riley had ties to the gang. Both are Venezuelan illegal immigrants. Recently, the Treasury designated Tren de Aragua a significant transnational criminal organization and offered financial rewards for the conviction of three of its leaders.
Pacheco-Chirino crossed into the U.S. from Texas in 2022, was vetted and released, according to Homeland Security. He told officials he was headed to New York but made it to an ICE office Colorado in 2023, was given a court date and cut loose.
He was apprehended in March 2024 on several felony assault charges but failed to show up for his court date, documents show. In July, police arrested Pacheco-Chirino again, where he is currently being held in ICE custody.
Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
Elizabeth Heckman is a digital production assistant with Fox News.
