Walt Rubel Commentary: Where were the Venezuelan killers?

I grew up in Denver and still go back every summer to visit my sister, nephews and grandnieces in Aurora, Colorado. And so, my ears perked up recently when I heard Aurora being paired with Springfield, Ohio, as the two most egregious examples of immigration run amok.

I’ve never been to Springfield, but clearly the two are very different. Springfield is a town of 58,000 people in the Rust Belt of northern Ohio, about 80 miles west of Cincinnati. Aurora is essentially a part of Denver. If not for the city limit signs, it would be difficult to tell when you leave one city and enter the other.

My sister and her husband live on a quiet cul-de-sac where the kids all know each other and play together. I don’t want to make it sound too idyllic. It is a big city, at least by my standards, and crime is an issue. But there are parts of Denver far more dangerous than Aurora.

One thing that has always set Aurora apart is a welcoming attitude toward immigrants. There is a Korean grocery store and restaurant a few blocks from my sister’s home. The elementary school my nephews attended held special lunches where students from other countries would bring dishes from their homeland to share.

Several years ago, I think during the Obama administration, one of the national news networks went to Aurora for a brief report celebrating that diversity. The national media is back, but they’re no longer in a celebratory mood.

During a rally earlier this month, Donald Trump claimed that migrants from Venezuela had taken over the city by force.

“They’re taking over buildings. They’re going in violently,” he warned ominously. “You know, getting them out will be a bloody story.”

That’s at least closer to the truth than the one about Hatians eating cats and dogs. Venezuelan migrants did move into a condemned building, and that apparently attracted gang members affiliated with Tren de Aragua, considered one of the most dangerous criminal operations in Latin America. A gang member has been arrested in connection to a murder at the building.

That is a new and serious threat, and Aurora police have established a special task force to address it. There are other buildings involved, and police are going through the process of clearing them out. But no, that has not led to the blood-soaked gunfights we were promised.

Immigration has stressed communities like Springfield and Aurora in many ways, including crime, and we should have an honest discussion about that. Portraying immigrants as savages who eat pets or as bloodthirsty killers taking over the community is simply not honest.

I wasn’t able to find updated crime statistics for the entire state of Georgia, but as of July there had been 62 homicides in Atlanta this year and another 18 in Savannah, making it safe to assume there have been well over 100 murders throughout the state. My question for supporters of the former president is, can you name one victim other than Laken Riley? If not, were the other lives less precious because they weren’t killed by an immigrant?

These old tropes get trotted out every four years as we get closer to the election, but the damage they cause remains long after the election is over.

I won’t say that my visit to Aurora last summer was entirely without drama. My grandniece accidentally broke the small seashell of her playmate, leading to hurt feelings all around. I somehow missed the roving hordes of Venezuelan gang members who had taken over the city.


Walt Rubel can be reached at [email protected].

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