Former President Donald Trump promised a massive deportation operation if he becomes president again, as he visited one of the cities whose migrant communities he has used as fodder on the campaign trail on Friday.
Trump stoked fear about a nation “occupied” by migrants in his remarks, using anti-immigrant rhetoric to convince voters that casting their ballot for him is a vote against the rising number of Venezuelans moving to Aurora, Colorado, and other cities like it.
“I make this pledge and vow to you. November 5, 2024, will be liberation day in America,” Trump said during the rally. “I will rescue Aurora and every town that has been invaded and conquered.”
Trump focused on the Venezuelan group Tren de Aragua, repeating rumors that members of the gang are widely committing violent crimes, displacing families and ravaging the city. He framed the city as part of a larger immigration crisis in the country and called for the “largest deportation operation in the history of the United States” if he were to become president.
“We will close the border. We will stop the invasion of illegals into our country,” Trump said. “We will defend our territory. We will not be conquered.”
The rally was held in a venue about half an hour from the apartments that his campaign called a “war zone” because of alleged Venezuelan gang activity leading up to the event. Trump and his campaign have blamed the Biden administration for the city’s growing Venezuelan population, which has reached more than 40,000 people.
Last month, city officials put out a statement explaining the city’s connection to Tren de Aragua, including some arrests of individuals linked to the gang. In the statement, the mayor and a council member pushed back on the notion that the city has been “taken over” by gang members. The city’s mayor, Mike Coffman, a Republican, said in an interview with ABC’s Denver affiliate on Tuesday that those characterizations of the city have been “grossly exaggerated.” And in a CBS “Face the Nation” interview, Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, said the city is “safer than it’s been.”
Trump has long relied on immigration as a key campaign message. It’s an issue that both animates his base and has long been seen as a vulnerability for Democrats.
This is not the first time Trump has put Aurora in the spotlight. It is a recurring theme for him, which he brought up at the presidential debate last month. He has often paired his comments on Aurora with Springfield, Ohio, where he’s perpetuated racist conspiracy theories that Haitian migrants were eating residents’ pets.
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Torrence Banks is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.