Nearly 100 Migrant Families Evicted from Aurora, CO 'Slumlord' Apartments

Aurora, CO — Residents at the Fitzsimons Place Apartments, who are predominantly Venezuelan migrants, were told six days ago that they needed to vacate their homes by 7 a.m. Tuesday morning, or they face arrest.

According to the city’s Deputy Director of Communications, Ryan Luby, the building’s utilities were intended to be shut off at 7 a.m. along with city contractors “boarding up the building and fencing off the entire property,” however the first agencies to arrive on the scene were more than 100 law enforcement officers at 7:15 a.m.

Tune into our live on-the-ground-coverage, below.

Law enforcement commanded that everyone who was not a leaseholder or expressly helping a leaseholder move the last of their belongings needed to leave the property, including media.

After the residents were pushed out of their homes by the city, many of them congregated a block away at the intersection of Oswego St and E 16th Ave with supporters and community organizers who were handing out water, coffee and food. There was also a table with members of the East Colfax Community Collective who were writing down residents’ information to get them into temporary hotels, which Aurora’s Deputy Director of Communications said the city was going to be paying for through the end of August.

Police line at the intersection of Oswego St and E 16th Ave, a block away from the Fitzsimons Place Apartments.

Among the former residents of the Fitzsimons Place Apartments were dozens of young children, the youngest being eight days old.

Luby also mentioned how the apartments’ owner and/or manager are scheduled to go to three different municipal court trials over the next two months “specifically related to these outstanding code violations.”

Aurora Deputy Director of Communications Ryan Luby at the intersection of Oswego St and E 16th Ave.

Luby said the city has been building a case “for a long time,” and that they knew about the code violations since 2020, yet when asked why the residents were only given six days to vacate, he said “because the water was going to get shut off today.”

The City of Aurora Mobile Command Communications Unit was stationed across the street from the Fitzsimons Place Apartments.

The Aurora Police Department K9 Unit trailer was present at the mass eviction of the Fitzsimons Place Apartments.

The Fitzsimons Place Apartments in Aurora on Tuesday morning, shortly before the scheduled eviction.

Unicorn Riot covered a press conference last Wednesday at the apartment complex, where residents and community organizers spoke about demands they have, including being able to stay in their homes for two more months to have adequate time to find new places to live.

Some advocates say the fact that the majority of the tenants are migrants from Venezuela is a key component contributing to the city’s decision to evict them. Three Aurora city councilmembers believe the migrant Venezuelans who live at the apartment complex are part of a “huge gang problem” and have called the population of migrant Venezuelans in Aurora violent, yet there is no concrete evidence to back up their beliefs.

Whether Aurora’s Mayor Mike Coffman agrees with them or not is unclear, but he does believe the owners of the apartment building are “slumlords,” which he shared during an interview with 9News.

Check out our interview video with Nate Kassa of East Colfax Community Collective and our video of last week’s entire press conference, below.