PREVIEW: 'A lot of us are scared': Venezuelan migrants in Colorado on edge ahead of Trump rally

Record ID: 1849694

  • Title: PREVIEW: 'A lot of us are scared': Venezuelan migrants in Colorado on edge ahead of Trump rally
  • Date: 21st October 2024
  • Summary: CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 6, 2024) (Reuters) (AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING) (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. FORMER PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING: “As we speak, heavily armed Venezuelan gangs have taken over entire apartment buildings and apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado, terrorizing the residents, taking over. In the old days you had to pay to buy that building. They just take it over. Other people are living in such fear. They've left. Under our border czar Harris, we are being conquered. We're being actually conquered, if you think of it from within. But as soon as I'm back in the White House, the conquest will end and the great liberation of America will begin. And you're going to be the ones leading the pack.”
  • Embargoed: 4th November 2024 20:37
  • Keywords: Auroora Aurora Colorado Donald Trump Trump Trump election Venezuela Venezuelan migrants
  • Location: AURORA, COLORADO, UNITED STATES / CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES
  • City: AURORA, COLORADO, UNITED STATES / CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,North America,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA003365121102024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:PART AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING / PART AUDIO ONLY
    After a security camera video clip of gun-toting men in a Colorado apartment building went viral in August, national media, right-wing influencers, and former President Donald Trump latched on to the incident, bringing a community of Venezuelan migrants under intense scrutiny.
    The video, captured by a former resident who has since moved out, was filmed in an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado. The resident told Reuters that she had called 911 to report seeing men carrying guns but she said 911 operators said no one would be coming. A shootout took place outside the complex that night leaving one person seriously injured, authorities later said.
    The incident and the 400,000-person Denver suburb where it happened have become a symbol for Trump, who says “migrant crime” is a result of high levels of illegal immigration under Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, his main election rival.
    Trump continues to campaign on the issue, and will hold an immigration-focused rally on Friday (October 11) in Aurora, Colorado, a place the Republican presidential candidate has falsely depicted as a "war zone" overrun by Venezuelan gang members even as local officials deny the allegations.
    While studies show immigrants do not commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans, immigration is a top voter concern in the run-up to the Nov. 5 presidential election.
    Trump has made false claims that immigrants are responsible for a wave of crimes in the U.S. as he intensifies dehumanizing rhetoric to describe immigrants.
    "Aurora, Colorado has become a 'war zone' due to the influx of violent Venezuelan prison gang members from Tren de Aragua," the Trump campaign said in a statement announcing the rally.
    Days before his Sept. 10 presidential debate with Harris, Trump claimed that members of Tren de Aragua controlled several dilapidated Aurora apartment complexes - allegations refuted by top city officials.
    “As we speak, heavily armed Venezuelan gangs have taken over entire apartment buildings and apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado, terrorizing the residents, taking over,” Trump said on Sept. 6 in Charlotte, North Carolina. “In the old days you had to pay to buy that building. They just take it over. Other people are living in such fear. They've left.”
    Trump made the comment alongside another prominent falsehood: that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating people's pets, playing up a historical racist trope against immigrants of color.
    Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, a Republican who initially repeated the takeover claims and then reversed course, said in a statement ahead of the rally that “concerns about Venezuelan gang activity have been grossly exaggerated” and welcomed Trump to tour the city.
    V Reeves, a community organizer with the Housekeys Action Network, said residents are nervous about the Trump visit.
    “They’re pretty disheartened. They feel betrayed. They feel as though they’re here striving so hard to become part of our society, to contribute in so many ways and bring the skills they have and show value to the community, and it’s really hard for them to see that their country of origin and images of them as tenants are being juxtaposed against images of gang members and people they don’t know and aren’t affiliated with and consistently be questioned is very difficult,” Reeves said.
    Trump and other Republicans have cast Tren de Aragua as a new and fearsome threat and have tried to link crimes by alleged members to high levels of illegal border crossings.
    The White House and Treasury Department designated the gang - “Aragua Train,” in English - as a transnational criminal organization earlier this year, although Latin American law enforcement experts told Reuters there was no evidence of large-scale organization in the U.S.
    Trump has focused on Aurora as part of a larger strategy that seeks to blame Biden and Harris for illegal border crossings. Harris toughened her stance on border security after becoming the Democratic nominee in August, and blames Trump for helping kill a bipartisan border security bill in Congress earlier this year.
    The dispute over gang activity in Aurora stems from an effort by the city to force the owner of several apartment complexes to address repairs, trash, pest infestations and other complaints.
    The apartment buildings became popular with migrants arriving in the city because they did not require Social Security numbers, Ashley Cuber, an immigration attorney with clients in one of the buildings, told Reuters.
    A public relations firm hired by the landlord, CBZ Management, said in early August that Tren de Aragua gang members had taken over the properties and that workers could not safely enter them, according to documents obtained by Reuters through a Colorado Open Records Act request.
    CBZ Management did not respond to requests for comment.
    (Production: Nathan Frandino)
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