Former President Trump announced a campaign rally in Aurora, Colorado, set for October 11, pledging to address the “flood” of migrants in the area. The rally follows Trump’s repeated criticisms of the migrant situation in Colorado, claiming that around 43,000 illegal immigrants have entered nearby Denver and Aurora. His campaign has also drawn attention to the Tren De Aragua gang’s alleged takeover of multiple apartment complexes.
“Aurora, Colorado has become a ‘war zone’ due to the influx of violent Venezuelan prison gang members from Tren de Aragua. With approximately 43,000 migrants flooding the neighboring city of Denver since December 2022, many of these migrants have made their way to Aurora, bringing chaos and fear with them,” the Trump campaign stated.
“Local families have been forced to flee their homes as Tren de Aragua members terrorize apartment complexes with guns, theft, and rampant drug activity. Kamala Harris’ open-border policies are turning once-safe communities into nightmares for law-abiding citizens,” the statement continued.
“Kamala’s border bloodbath has made every state a border state, leaving Colorado families at the mercy of criminals. 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,” the campaign added.
The Tren de Aragua gang allegedly first took over an apartment complex in Aurora in 2023. The Whispering Pines Apartments experienced violent assaults, murder threats, extortion, child prostitution, and other criminal activity, according to a nine-page report by the Denver law firm Perkins Coie, which was obtained by CBS News Colorado.
The firm, hired to investigate the gang’s activities at the apartment complex, interviewed witnesses and reviewed video footage before issuing its report. “The evidence we have reviewed indicates that gang members are engaging in flagrant trespass violations, assaults and battery, human trafficking and sexual abuse of minors, unlawful firearms possession, extortion, and other criminal activities, often targeting vulnerable Venezuelan and other immigrant populations,” wrote T. Markus Funk, a former U.S. Attorney.
The complex’s property manager stated that “he had never seen anything remotely like the Tren De Aragua takeover of Whispering Pines in his entire career.”