The mayor of a town that made headlines when members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua allegedly took over apartment buildings has welcomed a visit by former President Donald Trump.
Aurora, Colorado, Mayor Mike Coffman said Tuesday that the visit this coming Friday would be an opportunity to put an end to some of the “exaggerated” stories about the gang’s impact.
Trump announced Monday that he would be holding a rally in what had become a “war zone” because of Vice President Kamala Harris’ open border policies.
The Republican presidential candidate has frequently spoken about Aurora as an example of the ways he says the current administration’s policies have failed, in a similar way to his unfounded claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio.
“Former President Trump’s visit to Aurora is an opportunity to show him and the nation that Aurora is a considerably safe city – not a city overrun by Venezuelan gangs,” Coffman said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “My public offer to show him our community and meet with our police chief for a briefing still stands.”
Trump claims at the end of August that the city, close to Denver, had been overrun by criminal migrant gangs after a video showing violence in an apartment building went viral and claims were made that TdA members had taken over the complex.
At the time, Coffman told Newsweek that there were concerns about criminal activity, but these had been blown out of proportion when Aurora had supported Venezuelan migrants for many years.
“So, it’s my understanding that when you do have a concentration of Venezuelan migrants, sometimes, sadly, that criminal element follows and exploits them within their own immigrant communities,” he said.
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A few weeks later, the city’s police department identified ten members of the gang who had allegedly caused problems for many months.
“The reality is that the concerns about Venezuelan gang activity have been grossly exaggerated,” Coffman said Tuesday. “The incidents were limited to several apartment complexes in this city of more than 400,000 residents.”
The TdA began as a prison gang in Aragua, Venezuela, before expanding rapidly in recent years, according to the U.S. State Department, focusing on human trafficking and other abuses of desperate migrants.
The focus on Aurora appeared to have moved on in recent weeks, with Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, turning their attention to Springfield and accusations that Haitian immigrants were eating pets. Local officials and community leaders repeatedly debunked those claims.
Trump later promised he would visit both cities, saying his mass deportation plan would begin here, but he called off the visit to Ohio after pushback from leaders.
Friday’s planned visit, including a rally at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center at 1 p.m. MDT, will bring the focus back onto Aurora.
“Kamala’s border bloodbath has made every state a border state, leaving Colorado families at the mercy of criminals,” the Trump campaign said in its announcement. “The only solution to stop the border crisis is to elect President Trump, who will secure the border, deport dangerous criminals, and Make America Safe Again.”
