Federal law enforcement and immigration officials with the Biden-Harris government—along with state and local officials in Colorado—knew the violent Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), intended to make Denver its headquarters in the United States in November of 2023. According to government emails obtained by Aurora, Colorado, city council member Danielle Jurinsky, the city’s police department received intelligence from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding the gang’s presence and intentions in their city and nearby Denver.
“Here is the Tren De Aragua bulletin I plan on sending out department wide tomorrow. I added the intel from HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] that Sgt Bungartz received today,” wrote Aurora police officer Matthew Walters on November 16, 2023, in an email to Commander Chris Poppe. Walters continued: “I also spoke with an ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agent today who reached out to his intel guy, the guy got back rather quickly, and stated TdA has decided to make Denver their headquarters due to sanctuary policies and location.”