Trump drives his anti-immigration message in Aurora, Colorado

Donald Trump has called for the death penalty "for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer

Donald Trump detoured from the battleground states on Friday (October 11, 2024) 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.

Mr. 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 state wide.

Fuelling anti-immigrant sentiments

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, Mr. Trump has pinpointed specific smaller communities that have seen large arrivals of migrants, with tensions flaring locally over resources and some long-time 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. Mr. 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, Mr. 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,” Mr. Trump said of the Democrats in the White House.

Also read: A contest to frame the contest: Harris wants it to be on abortion; Trump wants it to be on immigration

“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,” Mr. Trump added.

Trump’s call for death penalty

Mr. 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,” Mr. 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," Mr. Trump said on Friday (October 11, 2024), 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, Mr. 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.”

Mr. 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.

Mr. 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 Mr. 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.

“Gang activity has been grossly exaggerated”

“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 Mr. 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.

Mr. 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.

Mr. 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. Mr. 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.

Ms. 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.

Published - October 12, 2024 11:16 am IST