Children play in the courtyard at The Edge at Lowry, the apartment complex at the center of the alleged gang takeover, in Aurora, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024.
A Murder and a Viral Video Stoke Fears of Migrant Crime
An exaggerated claim that a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, took over an apartment complex, the neighborhood and the surrounding city spread quickly through an already-on-edge community. Politicians on the right sought to use the narrative for their own political gain amid a hotly contested election for Colorado's 8th congressional district.
Photographed for The Wall Street Journal
Juan Carlos Alvarado Jimenez and his children in their apartment. He and other residents say that the real issue at The Edge at Lowry is the landlord, who some have called a slumlord.
Broken blinds covered many windows at the apartment complex.
Laundry hangs on the fence to dry.
Didenot Vera poses for a portrait in his apartment, where cockroaches dotted bug traps and bed bug spray was on hand.
Moises Didenot Vera shows his keychain representing his home country of Venezuela. More than 40,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have arrived in Denver over the last two years - more per capita than any other American city.
People walk on East Colfax Avenue, near the apartment complex at the center of the alleged gang takeover and an area with a high immigrant and refugee population.
Alfonso Nunez poses for a portrait in his empty restaurant in the neighborhood, La Cueva. Nunez says that rumors of a Venezuelan gang taking over aren't exactly good for business. Everyday migrants come into his restaurant in search of work, but he says he can hardly pay himself, let alone new employees.
Colorado Republican 8th congressional candidate Gabe Evans speaks to voters at a campaign meet and greet in Berthoud, Colo., where he mentioned the exaggerated information about the alleged gang takeover at the apartment complex and surrounding city of Aurora as evidence of increased crime among "illegal" migration.
Richard Velin talks to Gabe Evans’ mother as she canvasses for his campaign in Northglenn, Colo., part of Colorado's hotly contested 8th congressional district. "It's creeping up here. The evidence of crime. Undocumented people around," said Velin. "I know it sounds racist, but there's a lot of Spanish. I don't know if these people will ever blend in."
Volunteers listen as Evans speaks at a phone banking and canvassing kickoff in Northglenn, Colo.
The Gonzalez family, left, spends time at the Latino Heritage Festival in Brighton, Colo., where 8th congressional district Democratic incumbent Yadira Caraveo campaigned.
Venezuelan steakhouse employee Reibor Cordoba slices meat at the Latino Heritage Festival. Cordoba, who left Venezuela a few years ago after his brother was murdered by the former Venezuelan State of Techira governor’s security forces and armed groups, says that there are gang members entering the United States, and that is also fueling racism and xenophobia toward Venezuelans.
Tape holds up a Caraveo for Congress sign at the festival.
A recent Venezuelan immigrant wearing a Venezuelan baseball shirt enjoys a nap at the festival.
Maria Macías and her daughter, Donna Castaneda, 8, enjoy the festival.
A kid bikes by one of the bus stop poles, at right, that was pinned with racist and anti-immigrant signs recently along East Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colo., just a couple miles from The Edge at Lowry apartments
