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Mike Coffman (R), the mayor of Aurora, Colorado, accused Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D) of facilitating a covert migrant relocation scheme that led to a severe increase in gang activity in Aurora.

In a Monday op-ed for the Denver Gazette, Coffman blamed Johnston for the ongoing immigration and gang crisis, claiming he partnered with two non-governmental organizations to move foreign nationals from Denver, a sanctuary city, to other neighboring towns.

‘Coffman’s weak leadership allowed this to happen.’

Coffman, who has come under fire for his role in allowing illegal aliens to settle in Aurora, defended his decision in November to grant Johnston permission to use a Quality Inn hotel to house “busloads of migrants that were overwhelming Denver.”

“I initially said yes, but it soon became apparent that beyond giving the newly arrived migrants a 30-day hotel voucher, he had no plan for them other than leaving them homeless in Aurora,” Coffman wrote.

He claimed that he demanded that Johnston pick up the migrants and transport them back to Denver.

“He did, and from that point forward, I turned down his requests for further assistance,” Coffman said.

He declared Johnston “talks incessantly in political sound bites.”

Coffman cited in his article a City Journal report that indicated Johnston had drafted contracts with NGOs to house migrants in and around the sanctuary city.

Specifically, the report claimed that one of the organizations partnered with CBZ Management, a property management company, to move migrants to three of its Aurora apartment complexes: the Edge of Lowry, Whispering Pines, and Fitzsimons Place, which is also known as Aspen Grove.

CBZ Management and its apartment complexes were thrown into the center of the national immigration debate after a former resident at the Edge of Lowry released footage of a group of armed men storming through the complex.

One of the men in the video, who was later arrested, reportedly admitted to law enforcement that he was a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which has spread to more than a dozen states in the country.

CBZ Management has blamed the city for allowing the gang to take over its apartment buildings.

“After reading the article, I confronted Johnston about whether this was true. He affirmed that Denver had contracts with nonprofits that ‘have’ placed migrants from Denver to Aurora but he refused to confirm a number, where they were housed, or what resources they were given,” Coffman wrote.

He explained that an open records request revealed that Denver’s contracts with the nonprofits allowed them to place migrants “in Denver or in the surrounding communities.” He claimed such wording allowed the NGOs to put the migrants in Aurora without notifying city leaders.

“It gives Johnston cover, should it become public, by allowing him to say that it wasn’t his decision to put them in Aurora; it was the nonprofits who made the decision,” Coffman stated.

He concluded, “Aurora has suffered from a national embarrassment that has harmed the image of our city in a way that could have lasting economic consequences. As the mayor of Aurora, I’m asking that Mayor Mike Johnston be transparent and tell the truth about what he did.”

Johnston’s office told Fox News Digital, “Denver did not direct any nonprofit or agency to place newcomers in Aurora.”

“We also have no documentation nor knowledge to suggest that any city funds were put toward rental support at CBZ properties. Any suggestion otherwise is untrue,” the spokesperson continued. “Denver is proud to have supported nearly 43,000 people from the southern border, many of whom arrived on buses chartered by the governor of Texas despite having had no intentions of making Denver or Colorado their home.”

John Fabbricatore, a retired ICE Denver Field Office director, claimed that Coffman’s op-ed was an attempt to “cover his tracks.“

“He had known about this for a while and knew that Denver had been moving Venezuelans into Aurora. Coffman’s weak leadership allowed this to happen. He also learned through APD [Aurora Police Department] that Tren De Aragua had moved into North Aurora in December of 2023. He knew all of this, yet he lied about it to the media,” Fabbricatore wrote in a post on X.

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