AURORA, Colo. — At a rally on the outskirts of the city on Friday, Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump repeated the false claim that Aurora has been taken over by a Venezuelan gang.
With the event at the Gaylord Rockies resort, Trump made good on a pledge from September to visit the city.
Several rally attendees told 9NEWS that illegal immigration and safety were top of mind. Trump focused much of his 75-minute speech on these issues, repeating the claim that “the savage Venezuela prison gang known as Tren de Aragua” has taken over apartment complexes in Aurora.
“Kamala has imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the third world,” Trump said.
He falsely claimed the gang is “taking over your state.”
“I will rescue Aurora and every town that has been invaded and conquered,” Trump said. “These towns have been conquered. Explain that to your governor. He doesn’t have a clue.”
Later in his speech, Trump referenced Denver Health, saying “a hospital only 15 miles outside Aurora has been overwhelmed” caring for migrants.
“When you go to hospitals, you're not going to get a room,” he said.
The hospital told 9NEWS that new immigrants accounted for less than 2% of their 2023 patient visits.
Trump mentioned Denver Public Schools, saying the district had seen a large increase in enrollment due to migrants.
"Earlier this year, it was reported that they were enrolling 500 new students every two weeks," Trump said. "Most of them coming in from South American countries."
DPS previously said that more than 4,700 new-to-country students enrolled with DPS throughout the last school year.
Saying “every state is a border state now,” Trump said that if he wins the presidency, “we will have an Operation Aurora at the federal level to expedite the removal of the savage gangs.”
As he has done previously, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law that allows the president to deport any noncitizen who is from a country that the United States is at war with.
“We have to live with these animals,” he said. “But we’re not going to live with them for long.”
Trump’s rally marked the first time ahead of the November election that either presidential campaign has visited Colorado, which has reliably voted Democratic statewide in recent years.
“This state has to flip Republican. It has to,” Trump said to cheers. “Let’s do it. That’s why I’m here.”
> Watch a replay of the full rally:
Trump also mentioned an attempt earlier this year to block him from the presidential primary ballot in Colorado, saying that attempt was led by Gov. Jared Polis. It was in fact led by a group of Republican unaffiliated voters who unsuccessfully sued to block Trump from the ballot due to his role in the Jan. 6 riot.
That case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a ruling the day before Super Tuesday, the court restored Trump to the ballot.
“I hope that Colorado will show a tremendous protest vote for what they did to try and keep me off the ballot, and more importantly for what they have done to the fabric of your culture,” Trump said Friday.
Crowds lined up early Friday morning to see the former president. The rally began around 11:15 a.m. with speeches by Colorado Republican leaders.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, who represents District 3 and is running for election in District 4 in November, took the stage to chants of her name. She discussed the "crisis at the border" and said "you've got gangs like Tren de Aguara turning apartment complexes into their own playgrounds."
Outside the rally, 9NEWS spoke with Aurora resident Ron Newman. Newman supports Trump but said he doesn't agree with everything the former president has said.
"The Venezuelan gang stuff is bull----," Newman said.
"Not a war zone," Newman said of the city. "Not a war zone. None of that is true."
Newman said if he could meet Trump, he would tell him Aurora is a safe place to live.
"Come to Aurora. That's what I would tell him," he said.
'I'm going to Springfield and I'm going to Aurora'
A news release from the Trump campaign announcing the stop described Aurora as a “war zone.”
“Kamala’s border bloodbath has made every state a border state, leaving Colorado families at the mercy of criminals,” the release said.
On Sept. 18, Trump vowed to visit Aurora within two weeks. He also said he would visit Springfield, Ohio. The Trump campaign has pushed a false smear that Haitian migrants there are eating cats and dogs. Trump has not announced a campaign stop in Springfield.
Trump recently said that his plan for the largest deportation in American history, to be carried out by local police forces, would begin in Aurora and Springfield.
RELATED: Trump seizes on one block of a Colorado city to warn of migrant crime threat, even as crime dips
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, a Republican, told 9NEWS he would not appear at Trump’s rally.
In a statement Friday after Trump's speech, Coffman said he was "disappointed" that Trump did not "experience more of our city for himself."
"I cannot overstate enough that nothing was said today that has not been said before and for which the city has not responded with the facts," Coffman said in the statement. "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. The city and state have not been 'taken over' or 'invaded' or 'occupied' by migrant gangs. The incidents that have occurred in Aurora, a city of 400,000 people, have been limited to a handful of specific apartment complexes, and our dedicated police officers have acted on those concerns and will continue to do so."
After Trump used the Sept. 9 presidential debate to repeat claims that the City of Aurora had been taken over by the gang, city leaders and Aurora Police released a joint statement saying that the gang’s impact was isolated to a few properties.
Since first acknowledging the local presence of the gang, Tren de Aragua, in early August, Aurora Police said they have identified ten suspected Tren de Aragua members and arrested nine of them.
Democrat Joe Biden won Colorado in the 2020 presidential election with 55% of the vote.
On Friday morning, Colorado Democratic leaders spoke in Aurora about some of the misinformation that Trump has spread about the community.
"We set the standard in this nation for welcoming people who are coming here to start a new life," said Democratic U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, who represents Aurora.
"So when Donald Trump invited himself to tell lies, to twist and distort that story for his own terrible purposes, we will not tolerate it," Crow said.
The Colorado Democratic Party said in a statement Monday that Trump's visit could impact Republican candidates in down ballot races in November.
“The last time Donald Trump came to Colorado, he helped make certain Cory Gardner would lose his election, and he appears set to do the same to Republican candidates across the state when he visits Aurora this Friday,” Shad Murib, chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, said in the statement. “Coloradans aren’t fooled: Trump isn’t coming to Aurora to talk about lifting up working people and creating a safer, more prosperous America; Trump is coming to spew hatred and division that’s not reflective of the Colorado we fight for every day. Hopefully he plays his greatest hits before his supporters start leaving the rally early, per usual.”
Trump's rally was the same day that the state's county clerks began sending mail-in ballots to voters for the Nov. 5 election.
This story includes reporting by the Associated Press and Marissa Solomon.
