With a vote on Monday, the Aurora City Council told City Manager Jason Batchelor to use the Colorado Open Records Act to ask the City and County of Denver and the State of Colorado for information about how immigrants were placed in Aurora apartments.
People all over the country are interested in Aurora because former President Donald Trump said that Venezuelan gangs have taken over the city. Yes, cops finally admitted that gangs have taken over some buildings in the city after initially downplaying reports.
Danielle Jurinsky, a council member who spoke at Trump’s gathering in Aurora, has said throughout the whole thing that many of the migrants came from Denver and were sent to Aurora. She pushed for the resolution that gave permission for the probe.
A spokesman for Denver said, “We didn’t “place” migrants.”
Jon Ewing, a spokeswoman for the city of Denver, said in an email that city money was not used to put migrants in any of the troubled Aurora buildings.
But he did say that foreigners were put where they wanted to be by non-profits that got money from the city. It is true that people who came through Denver have settled in Aurora and other places, he said.
In the statement, Ewing said, “We did not put anyone in those apartments.” Donors used their own money to help people pay the first month’s rent, deposit, and security fees, as we said from the start.
Even back then, this wasn’t done until the newbies picked out their own apartments. From what I know, the nonprofits did not pick which rooms people stayed in.
The only times city funds were used to pay rent or deposits that stood out were for the DASP program or when we cleared out a big camp on Zuni in January. I was told that no one from that camp was put up in those apartment buildings.
Jurinsky and Coffman are not sure
One in five people who live in Aurora were born outside of the United States, making it the most diverse city in Colorado. Aurora already has thriving groups of migrants that are likely to bring in people seeking asylum.
Crystal Murillo and Alison Coombs, both from the council, voted against the motion. They were afraid that the council would go after non-profits that help immigrants and take away their funds. Jurinsky said she doesn’t think the city should give money to any charities.
The Zvonek motion is aimed at non-profits.
During Monday’s study session of the council, Mayor Pro Tem Dustin Zvonek also pushed for a motion that would make it necessary for non-profits that get city money to meet certain standards. A letter from city staff to council says that the policy should make it clear that non-profits asking for money must be offering services that improve the health and general welfare of Aurora residents.
“Organizations that don’t meet these requirements should only be able to get grant money if they can show that their program fits with the City’s priorities.”
The resolution says that the city manager has to talk about this problem with the City Council at the annual budget workshop and give them a report. The resolution was brought up at a normal council meeting so that it could be voted on officially.
As a defense of Jurinsky’s motion, Mayor Mike Coffman criticized Denver for not consulting Aurora first before sending migrants there. “That must not happen again.”
Both Jurinsky and Coffman said that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development makes sure that places where refugees stay are checked out and found to be safe to live in.
They didn’t understand how migrants could have been put in buildings that were so badly damaged. They said again that taxpayers should be given answers.
