Open borders, woke ideology, hate speech regulations, and other liberal constructs are weakening U.S. national security. Illegal immigrants are no longer called illegal, and even a violent gang, recognized by the U.S. government as a national security threat, is being handled with kid gloves to avoid offending law-abiding illegal immigrants from Venezuela and their supporters.
Back in June, I reported on Tren de Aragua, a violent transnational Venezuelan gang that entered the USA through the southern border and is now operating in states across the country. The existence and threat of this group, as well as its growth in America, are well-documented in government reports. The National Security Council has issued a statement on this new threat to national security, the Treasury Department has recognized them as a transnational crime organization, and the U.S. Department of State is offering a $12 million bounty for information leading to the arrest of several of its leaders.
Clearly, the group exists and poses a major threat to the nation. However, in recent days, a series of stories have appeared in second-tier, regional, and right-leaning media outlets, claiming that Tren de Aragua is taking over several towns in Colorado, specifically Aurora and Denver. These reports state that the mayors have asked the governor for help, but the governor said the gang takeover was simply a figment of their “imagination.” Simultaneously, other media outlets are claiming that the story of a gang takeover is false. For the most part, the largest mainstream, national media are not covering the story.
According to the New York Post, the gang has taken over numerous apartment buildings, and viral videos circulating on social media apparently support these claims. These videos are also being aired by local affiliates of larger news organizations, such as KDVR in Denver, NBC Montana, and CBN News. The Denver Post, however, claims that landlords are inventing this story to distract from their own shoddy maintenance of the buildings, which seems extremely unlikely. This landlord narrative would be a first in the documented history of gang violence. The story reported by Fox seems more plausible—that the landlords were unable to perform maintenance because the gang had taken over the properties.
CBS reported that after the videos went viral, local police confirmed the presence of Tren de Aragua and acknowledged that the gang has committed violent acts in the area. However, they seem hesitant to link the videos or claims of building takeovers to the gang. Axios and Newsweek are two of the biggest mainstream media outlets covering the story, and both were careful to emphasize that most illegal immigrants from Venezuela have no connection to crime. Axios noted that the presence of Tren de Aragua, “known for human smuggling and money laundering, raises concerns about the safety of residents and newly arrived migrants from Venezuela, most of whom have no connection to criminal activity.”
The coverage in Newsweek seems to both corroborate that the violence is happening while attributing the claims about the apartments being taken over to Trump, implying that he lied. At a recent rally in Pennsylvania, Trump told supporters, “These stupid people that we have leading our country are allowing these people, these criminals, to come into our country, and we’ve got to get them the hell out of here.”
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman also blames federal policies at the southern border for the mess his police force now faces in combating Tren de Aragua. Senator Marco Rubio agrees, stating that the blame lies with the Biden administration: “Our local communities continue to face the consequences of President Biden’s open border policy, which has enabled Tren de Aragua mercenaries to wreak havoc across the U.S. On repeated occasions, I demanded the Biden administration designate this criminal organization for what it truly is.”
It’s well known that Tren de Aragua members enter the country illegally and are involved in human trafficking. Some trafficked individuals even agree to work for the gang in exchange for passage to the United States. We are living in dangerous times where the fear of offending people outweighs the fear of being killed. Our elected officials are failing to protect us, which is a primary function of government. The media is complicit, either too afraid to report the story or unwilling to acknowledge that it exists. How can a gang’s takeover of part of a town be considered imaginary? Where are the interviews with the victims on the streets? Where are the CNN helicopters? And while we’re at it, where are the crime stats that show the dangers of letting these gangs into the country?
