A racist and antisemitic tirade from a person who spoke online during Aurora’s council meeting turned into an occasion for several Democrats to attack a councilmember who had been outspoken about the presence of a Venezuelan gang in Colorado’s third most populous city.

A letter signed by several of Denver and Aurora’s councilmembers — and by several Colorado state representatives — condemned the comments made during public hearing and then took aim at Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky, who had talked about the Venezuelan prison gang known as Tren de Aragua infiltrating apartment complexes in her city.

The letter penned by former Denver Public Schools board member Auon’tai Anderson said the comments during the public hearing were “a direct consequence of the dangerous, inflammatory rhetoric that has taken root in Aurora, much of it instigated and fueled by Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky who has continuously spread anti-immigrant narratives.”

Aurora officials this week finally admitted they knew about the Venezuelan gang’s presence in Aurora months ago, though they insisted those activities were limited to a few areas. The police also acknowledged they had been arresting people suspected — though not yet confirmed at the time of their apprehensions — of being members of the Venezuelan gang long before the media spotlight on the city.

Several Democrats have downplayed the gang’s activities in Colorado.

Jurinsky, who is Jewish, called the speaker’s comments “disturbing” and “disgusting,” saying that he had targeted her in his comments, as well as others.

Blaming her for the tirade is part of a “political agenda to continue personal attacks against me,” the councilmember said Friday.

“It’s no secret that I myself am Jewish, so I was very much a part of that attack,” she said. “Very clearly, this man also attacked me, and I condemn it. It’s terrible.”

The letter, on X by Anderson, was signed by Aurora councilmembers Crystal Murillo and Alison Coombs, Denver councilmembers Shontel Lewis, Sarah Parady and Serena Gomez-Gutierrez, and Colorado State representatives Javier Mabrey, Emily Sirota, Dafna Michaelson Jenet, Regina English and Iman Jodeh.

In a recording of the speaker’s comments Monday night, he is heard referring to himself as a White supremacist, saying, “That’s right. That’s exactly what I am.”

The speaker also referred to Gov. Jared Polis using derogatory slurs historically used against LGBTQ people.

Anderson’s letter accused Jurinsky of “(fanning) the flames of xenophobia and fear” for her alleged “reckless declaration” that the city has been “taken over by Venezuelan gangs.”

Jurinsky has maintained that neither she nor Mayor Mike Coffman ever said the entire city had been “taken over” by gangs.

In a social media post, she said, “The crux folks is that the statement is what I’ve said all along. The entire city of Aurora was not taken over. Several Apartment complexes were taken over by Tren de Aragua and people suffered because of it.”

The racist tirade highlights problems with the city’s public comment platform, according to Jurinsky.

She said staff members traced the caller back to California.

“We have created such a system where people can call in from all over the country, quite frankly from all over the world,” she said. “It’s a shame that our public invited to be heard platform has been hijacked by people that do not live in Aurora.”

There are proposals for changes to that system coming down the pipe, Jurinsky said, stating that she hopes they will be able to bring some of them to the next council meeting on Monday, Sept. 23.

Free speech in a government setting, particularly in open meetings, is “the most protected form of speech,” Ryan Luby, Aurora’s spokesperson, told The Denver Gazette when asked what the city is legally allowed to do when somebody makes “hateful” comments.

“Yes, even hate speech is protected speech,” he wrote in a follow-up email.

“That being said, we will continue to look into this to see what more we can do,” Luby said.

Coffman and councilmembers previously looked into eliminating the public call-in line, Luby said, and the mayor plans to assess the idea again.

Additionally, council rules require councilmembers to wait until the public comment session ends before commenting.

“In this case, at the conclusion of the hateful speaker’s comments, community members in attendance in the council chamber disrupted the meeting and caused the City Council to move the meeting to a virtual setting,” Luby wrote in an email. “Toward the end of the meeting during Council Reports, members addressed the hateful comments.”

Councilmember Crystal Murillo said “we opened the floodgate for White supremacists,” saying she pushed back on the “anti-immigrant and Venezuelan rhetoric because I know it opens that door.”

“I’m absolutely disgusted and I’m not okay,” she said. “That was some serious language … and it’s absolutely unacceptable.”

Councilmember Stephanie Hancock called the caller a “coward” trying to “dismantle, disrupt and destroy.”

“We should not let them get away with this,” she said.

The Denver City Council experienced a similar situation in May when a racist, xenophobic and antisemitic tirade from an unregistered viewer on Zoom managed to override the tech’s mute status.

Denver Gazette reporters Nico Brambila and Alexander Edwards contributed to this report.