Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman calls out Denver Mayor Mike Johnston on his handling of new immigrants

After a brutal attack on an apartment complex in Aurora that led to the arrest of several suspected Venezuelan gang members. Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman criticized Denver Mayor Mike Johnston over the city’s treatment of new immigrants.

Coffman said Friday that Johnston effectively brought immigrants to Aurora but refused to provide basic information to the neighboring city.

“I confronted the mayor about it. He won’t tell me how many people he sent here. He won’t tell me what benefits he gave them, what promises he made,” Coffman said at a news conference. “And so we’re going through open records requests right now to get that information, and it’s amazing that a mayor can’t get a response from another mayor that they have to use a legal mechanism to get to the truth.”

A new case of violence

Coffman called the news conference after renewed violence at The Edge at Lowry, an apartment complex in Aurora that was home to hundreds of new immigrants. Nineteen people are charged or under investigation for the kidnapping and brutal abuse of two residents of the complex.

The attackers are suspected of being connected to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Police said both the suspects and victims were Venezuelan immigrants.

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

An estimated 40,000 immigrants came through Denver during a wave of immigration. Many were directed here by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. At the height of the crisis, shelters were overflowing with immigrants, and Denver hired a network of nonprofits to find housing for the people.

Hundreds of people ended up in dilapidated Aurora apartment buildings run by CBZ Management, which soon became the focus of national media attention – particularly when a video showed gunmen breaking into apartments at The Edge.

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On Friday, Coffman accused Denver’s mayor of using the nonprofits to shirk responsibility for housing immigrants in Aurora.

“He didn’t need my permission for that. This served as political camouflage. But he devised a way to do it by using a nonprofit to say, “It was a nonprofit that did this, not me.” Well, he funded it, Denver funded it,” he said.

Johnston’s office defends his “compassionate” response

Johnston spokeswoman Jordan Fuja said the mayor was proud that Denver responded to the newcomer crisis with “compassion.”

“We were the only city in the metropolitan area to put in place a long-term plan to efficiently and effectively address the crisis,” Fuja said in a statement. “It was appropriate for Aurora to respond quickly to address these heinous crimes, and we agree that any person who commits a crime should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.”

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But Fuja clarified that Denver has not “dumped” people in Aurora or any other city for that matter.

“In fact, Denver has repeatedly coordinated with Aurora, and rather than placing blame, we remain willing to work with them to ensure we protect public safety,” she said.

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

When Denver officials called for immigration help in 2023 and 2024, they faced hostile responses from communities like Lakewood, El Paso and Douglas counties.

At one point, the mayor of Aurora asked Johnston to stop housing people in an extended-stay hotel in Aurora because it would drive poor people out of Aurora.

“The problem we have is because you brought her here without telling us.”

Coffman now accuses Denver of creating a concentration of immigrants who are vulnerable to criminal gangs.

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“The problem we have is because you brought her here without telling us. So we’re trying to figure out how many people there were, what resources were provided to them, what promises were made to them, whether there was a vetting process, who was pushed to Aurora and who was held in Denver,” Coffman said.

The number of new arrivals has fallen dramatically in recent months, and Denver recently closed its last immigration shelter. However, an unknown number of new immigrants remain in the region.

Kiara DeMare and Allison Sherry contributed reporting.