AURORA, Colo. – Former President Donald Trump painted a dark picture of Colorado’s third-largest city at a rally here Friday, once again claiming it has been taken over by a Venezuelan prison gang. But the city’s police chief told NBC News that Aurora is still “very safe.”
“It’s not too much. Without a doubt, Aurora is still a very safe city. It’s still a wonderful community that’s incredibly diverse,” Todd Chamberlain said. While there is some gang activity, he added, “What we’re hoping is to make sure that gang doesn’t grow.”
In a clip that went viral on social media, Trump singled out a particular Venezuelan prison gang known as the TDA. last month claimed that the gang took over the residential complex in Aurora. At the time, police said there was no evidence the gang had taken over the complex, and Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, a Republican, said Trump descriptions are “not accurate”.
At a rally on Friday, Trump said immigrants from “Third World prisons and jails and prisons and insane asylums and mental institutions” preyed on “innocent Americans” across the country.
“And nowhere is that more evident than here,” he said, “because many apartment complexes in Aurora have been taken over by a brutal Venezuelan prison gang.”
The story that immigrants are taking over the US It is the centerpiece of Trump’s re-election campaign. Using increasingly inflammatory rhetoric, Trump has taken on other suburbs with immigrant populations. Last month, he along with his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio was reprimanded by local leaders after they repeatedly allegedly kidnapped and ate the pets of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.
At a rally on Friday, Trump said he would “save Aurora and every occupied city.” He announced a plan called Operation Aurora to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport members of the TDA and other gangs.
In an interview with NBC News, Chamberlain stressed that he does not want to participate in mass deportation efforts and that the job of law enforcement agencies, regardless of immigration status, is to provide justice for crimes committed.
“It is not our business to decide whether you are documented or undocumented. We’re in the business of making sure that if you commit a crime, we’re going to hold you accountable, or if you’re a victim, we’re going to hold you close and give you that support and what you need,” he said.
Asked to respond to Chamberlain’s comments, a Trump campaign spokesman pointed to a series of news articles about gang violence. Posted on X.
Jake Traylor and Vaughn Hillyard contributed.