Donald Trump detoured from the battleground states Friday to visit a Colorado suburb that's been in the news over illegal immigration as he drives a message, often using false or misleading claims and dehumanizing language, that migrants are causing chaos in smaller American cities and towns.
Trump’s rally in Aurora marked the first time ahead of the November election that either presidential campaign has visited Colorado, which reliably votes Democratic statewide.
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The Republican nominee has long promised to stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history and has made immigration core to his political persona since launching his first campaign in 2015. In recent months, Trump has pinpointed specific smaller communities that have seen large arrivals of migrants, with tensions flaring locally over resources and some longtime residents expressing distrust about sudden demographic changes.
Aurora entered the spotlight in August when a video circulated showing armed men walking through an apartment building housing Venezuelan migrants. Trump has claimed extensively that Venezuelan gangs are taking over buildings, even though authorities say that was a single block of the suburb near Denver, and the area is again safe.
Ignoring those denials from local authorities, Trump painted a picture of apartment complexes overrun by “barbaric thugs" and streets unsafe to travel, blaming President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump's Democratic rival.
“They're ruining your state,” Trump said of the Democrats in the White House.
“No person who has inflicted the violence and terror that Kamala Harris has inflicted on this community can ever be allowed to become the president of the United States,” Trump added.
Trump often used dehumanizing language, referring to his political rivals as “scum” and to migrants as “ animals " who have “invaded and conquered” Aurora. The town is “infected by Venezuela,” he said.
“We have to clean out our country,” Trump said. And he reprised the first controversy of his career in politics, when he launched his 2016 campaign by saying migrants are rapists and bring drugs and crime.
“I took a lot of heat for saying it, but I was right," Trump said Friday, repeating the false claim that other countries are emptying their prisons and mental institutions and dumping their worst criminals in the United States.
To thunderous applause, he called for the death penalty "for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer.”
Later Friday in Reno, Nevada, Trump insisted the U.S. is “an occupied country,” and added, “I make this vow to you: Nov. 5, 2024, will be liberation day in America. Liberation day.”
Trump announced in Colorado that as president he'd launch “Operation Aurora” to focus on deporting members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, or TDA. The violent gang traces its origins more than a decade to an infamously lawless prison with hardened criminals.
Trump also repeated his pledge to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law that allows the president to deport any noncitizen who is from a country that the U.S. is at war with.
In July, the Biden administration issued a sanction against the gang and offered $12 million in rewards for the arrest of three leaders.
Aurora resident Jodie Powell, 54, was among the attendees at Trump's Friday event. She said it's "not the case" that Venezuelan gangs have taken over the city, as Trump claims. Still, Powell said she's seen an increase in crime she associates with newcomers, citing a police chase that ended at a store where she was shopping.
“It takes a small amount of people to make a big difference in the community,” said Powell, who ranks immigration as her top concern alongside the economy. “It’s scary, it’s a scary thing.”
At the venue where Trump appeared, posters displayed mug shots of people in prison-orange with descriptions including “Illegal immigrant gang members from Venezuela.”
“Look at all these photos around me," Stephen Miller, a former top aide who is expected to take a senior role in the White House if Trump wins, told the crowd. “Are these the kids you grew up with? Are these the neighbors you were raised with? Are these the neighbors that you want in your city?” The crowd roared ”no" in reply.
Some Colorado officials, including the Republican mayor of Aurora, accused Trump and other Republicans of overstating problems in the city.
“Again, the reality is that the concerns about Venezuelan gang activity in our city — and our state — have been grossly exaggerated and have unfairly hurt the city’s identity and sense of safety,” said Mike Coffman, a former U.S. congressman.
Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, also have spread falsehoods about a community in Springfield, Ohio, where they said Haitian immigrants were accused of stealing and eating pets.
While Ohio and Colorado are not competitive in the presidential race, the Republican message on immigration is intended for states that are. Vance campaigned recently in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, a city of 70,000 that has resettled refugees from Africa and Asia, and touted Trump's plan to ramp up deportations. He argues smaller communities have been “overrun” by immigrants taxing local resources.
Trump has vowed to deport not only “criminals,” a promise he shares with Harris, but also Haitians living legally in Springfield and even people he has denigrated as “pro-Hamas radicals” protesting on college campuses. Trump has said he would revoke the temporary protected status that allows Haitians to stay in the U.S. because of widespread poverty and violence in their home nation.
Harris has tacked to the right on immigration, presenting herself as a candidate who can be tough on policing the border, which is perceived as one of her biggest vulnerabilities.
She wrapped up a three-day western swing with a campaign event Friday in Scottsdale, Arizona, where she said she would create a bipartisan council of advisers to provide feedback on her policy initiatives if she makes it to the White House.
“I love good ideas wherever they come from,” said Harris, who is making a push to get Republicans with doubts about Trump to support her.
She also accused Trump of letting Iran “off the hook” while he was in office and argued she would be a greater champion for Israel’s security.
“Make no mistake, as president, I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend American forces and interests from Iran and Iran-backed terrorists,” Harris said in a call with Jewish supporters ahead of Yom Kippur. “And I will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. Diplomacy is my preferred path to that end. But all options are on the table.”
Harris charged that Trump “did nothing” after Iran “attacked U.S. bases and American troops.”
The criticism by Harris was a knock on Trump for downplaying a January 2020 missile attack by Iran on a U.S. base in Iraq that left several American troops with concussion-like symptoms, including some who had to be evacuated for treatment. Trump earlier this month referred to the injuries as a “headache.”
The Iranian missile attack came days after Trump ordered a strike that that killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, and raised tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
Harris participated virtually in a White House briefing with President Biden on the recovery effort from hurricanes Milton and Helene. She sought to reassure those who endured losses from the hurricane that they would get help from the government.
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Gomez reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix and Thomas Beaumont in Reno, Nevada, contributed.