An elementary school in Colorado could become a shelter for migrants as they continue to arrive en masse at the country’s southern border.
The currently vacant building in Denver has been floated as an option and is being considered by the city’s Democratic mayor.
The specific school property involved, which is owned by Denver Public Schools, has not been made public, but city officials say they are making contingency plans to convert it into emergency housing.
The building has been “identified as a potential shelter for migrants, but nothing is final and there is no paperwork,” said a spokesman for Denver Mayor Mike Johnston.
Johnston said the city has been “looking at buildings that could serve as emergency shelters, but no decisions have been made yet.”
An elementary school in Colorado could be about to become a shelter for migrants (file photo)
The currently vacant building in Denver is currently an option and is being considered by the city’s Democratic mayor, Mike Johnston, pictured above.
Denver, a city of more than 700,000 people, is also a “sanctuary city,” meaning it does not apply federal immigration law.
“The location you’re referring to has been considered as a possible site to provide temporary shelter for new arrivals,” said Jon Ewing, a spokesman for the Denver mayor’s office. Fox News. ‘No decisions have been made and no contracts have been signed.
“It’s also probably worth noting that there are very few new arrivals in shelters right now. In all of August, we saw about 150 people come through our shelter system, many of whom stayed only a few hours before leaving for other locations.”
The city also refuses to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, but there are fears that parts of Denver have recently been overrun by Venezuelan gangs.
Last month, a video filmed in Aurora, a Denver suburb, emerged showing gunmen knocking on the door of an apartment, heightening fears that the Tren de Aragua gang was in control of the six-building complex.
Aurora police said Thursday the street gang had a small presence in the city and had not taken control of the run-down apartment complex.
Footage from a resident at an Aurora apartment complex appeared to show gunmen knocking on a door, heightening fears that the Tren de Aragua gang was in control of the complex.
But the accusations continue to gain traction among conservatives and were amplified by former President Donald Trump in a Fox News debate on Wednesday, where he said Venezuelans were “taking over the entire city.”
Aurora is a diverse city that has long struggled with crime and gangs, and police said they have so far linked 10 people to Tren de Aragua and arrested six of them, including suspects in an attempted murder in July.
But on a visit to the apartments where the gunmen were filmed, interim Aurora Police Chief Heather Morris said the gang members had not taken control and were not collecting rent.
The comments came after Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said “criminal elements” had taken over some unspecified buildings and were extorting money from residents.
After residents held a news conference to speak out against the gang allegations, Coffman, a Republican and former congressman, admitted he was “not sure where the truth is in all of this.”
Aurora police are at the complex and say claims that a gang has taken over the building are false.
In one video, other gang members run up the stairs, carrying guns. In the background, the men can be heard speaking Spanish to each other.
A boy rides his bicycle between apartment buildings as a demonstration takes place in the courtyard to address chronic problems in apartment buildings occupied by people displaced from their home countries in Central and South America in Aurora.
In a This week’s interview with Denver7 Coffman said the narrative that all of Aurora was unsafe was untrue and detrimental to the economic health of the rapidly growing city of more than 400,000 people.
Trump has sought to capitalize on concerns over immigration as he seeks a second term in November.
At Wednesday night’s town hall meeting, he repeated his call for mass deportations after exaggerating the gang situation in Aurora.
“Look at what’s happening in Aurora, Colorado, where the Venezuelans are taking over the entire city, buildings, the entire city,” Trump said. “You saw it the other day: They’re kicking down doors and taking over people’s apartments.”
The video that helped fuel the allegations showed gunmen, including one holding a long gun, walking up the stairs and banging on the door of an apartment.
Former residents who filmed it told KDVR-TV it was taken before a shooting at the complex on Aug. 18 in which a 25-year-old man later died.
Venezuela’s most violent gang, Tren de Aragua, has moved its headquarters across the U.S. border to the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez.
Among the nearly 1 million Venezuelan migrants who have entered the United States in recent years are suspected gang members linked to police shootings, human trafficking and other crimes, but there is no evidence that the gang has established an organizational structure in the United States, said Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime based in Colombia. he told the Associated Press This summer.
He recently published a report on the expansion of the Aragua Train.
Social media posts about a video pretending to show the migrants San Diego school bus shot and 911 call denouncing Venezuelan migrants Taking possession of an apartment building in Chicago They have also received attention recently. Both were unfounded.
Many of the immigrants from Venezuela and other Latin American countries who live in the Aurora complex say there are no gangs there and that they are unfairly portrayed as criminals.