XPost: alt.politics.republicans, misc.immigration.usa, sac.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: votered@getahead.com   
      
   Trump, the first major 2024 candidate to visit Colorado for a rally, has   
   fanned flames over migrants   
      
   Donald Trump’s visit to Aurora on Friday for a sold-out rally will mark   
   the first big public event by a major-party presidential candidate in   
   Colorado this year — with Trump’s visit motivated more by the chance to   
   amplify his rhetoric about migrants than to seize on any likely prospect   
   of winning Colorado.   
      
   UPDATE: Aurora gears up for Donald Trump rally as traffic swells, lines   
   form outside venue   
   His planned afternoon stop on the northern edge of Aurora, near the   
   airport, comes three weeks after the former president and current   
   Republican nominee pledged to visit a suburban city he’s falsely claimed   
   has been overrun by Venezuelan gangs. His visit has been met with praise   
   from some Republican officials, pushback from Democrats and attempts by   
   city officials to rebut his repeated exaggerations of gang problems that   
   have been most apparent at a handful of Aurora apartment complexes.   
      
   Trump is scheduled to speak at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention   
   Center at 1 p.m. Doors open for the event at 9 a.m., according to the   
   Trump campaign. Trump will then travel to Reno, Nevada, for another rally   
   scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. mountain time.   
      
   The campaign has not released more information about the event, and   
   campaign staff did not respond to a message seeking information on the   
   number of tickets distributed. But a front desk clerk for the Gaylord said   
   Thursday that the event would be indoors, with a capacity of 10,000.   
      
   The campaign has not yet announced any additional speakers or attendees,   
   though a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert said the congresswoman   
   plans to attend, as will state Rep. Gabe Evans, who’s running for Congress   
   in the north Denver suburbs. So, too, will Jeff Crank, a Republican   
   running for a Colorado Springs-based congressional district. Evans and   
   Crank may speak at the rally, their spokespeople said.   
      
   Spokesmen for the Aurora and Denver police departments would not provide   
   details about logistical planning for the event. The Aurora spokesman said   
   the department may seek help from other agencies, if needed.   
      
   Trump’s visit comes amid the former president’s continued — and often   
   inaccurate — focus on Aurora and what local officials have described as   
   the “limited” presence of a Venezuelan gang; those concerns have primarily   
   been linked to a group of dilapidated apartment buildings. It’s been part   
   of Trump’s wider focus on immigration, with him often employing anti-   
   immigrant rhetoric.   
      
   The former president’s campaign referred to Aurora as a “war zone” when   
   announcing the rally plans earlier this week, and Trump twice referenced   
   the situation in Aurora during his debate against Vice President Kamala   
   Harris last month. Denver TV station Fox31 reported that the Trump   
   campaign has invited the woman who recorded a now-infamous video of armed   
   men in an Aurora apartment building’s hallways to attend the rally.   
      
   In a statement this week, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman — a Republican whose   
   2018 congressional reelection loss prompted a dry “too bad, Mike” response   
   from Trump — said the visit “is an opportunity to show him and the nation   
   that Aurora is a considerably safe city — not a city overrun by Venezuelan   
   gangs. My public offer to show him our community and meet with our police   
   chief for a briefing still stands.”   
      
   Coffman said the “concerns about Venezuelan gang activity” had been   
   “grossly exaggerated.”   
      
   Concerns about demonizing immigrants   
   Residents at the apartments at the center of the firestorm planned to hold   
   an event and press conference in response to Trump’s rally on Friday   
   afternoon, an organizer told The Denver Post. The Denver chapter of the   
   Party for Socialism and Liberation has also announced plans to hold a drum   
   circle “and make some noise” outside of the Gaylord.   
      
   A group of unions and community groups — a coalition that includes the   
   large union for state employees — released a statement Thursday condemning   
   “the racist and divisive lies that MAGA Republicans are using in an   
   attempt to distract us from horrendous living conditions” at the   
   apartments.   
      
   U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat who represents Aurora in Congress, told   
   Colorado Politics that Trump had exaggerated the issues in the city and   
   that elected leaders “are addressing our public safety issues and our   
   housing issues, and we don’t need somebody coming and telling lies and   
   demonizing our immigrants and our refugees.”   
      
   Aurora’s crime rate has followed a downward trend seen across the country.   
   That’s despite — or, some argue, partly because of — the influx of   
   Venezuelans fleeing their country who have funneled into Colorado and   
   other cities nationwide.   
      
   Multiple studies show immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than   
   native-born Americans. But Aurora also is an example of how Trump has been   
   able to use real but isolated episodes of migrant violence to tar an   
   entire population. He uses those examples to paint a picture of a country   
   in chaos due to what he regularly calls an immigrant “invasion.”   
      
   “Do you see what they’re doing in Colorado? They’re taking over,” Trump,   
   who often warns of “migrant crime,” said of Venezuelan gang members during   
   a rally in Reading, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday. “They’re taking over real   
   estate. They become real estate developers from Venezuela. They have   
   equipment that our military doesn’t have.”   
      
   Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, noted that Aurora, a city of 400,000 people,   
   has long fought to shake its reputation as Colorado’s rougher big city.   
   One-fifth of Aurora’s residents were born in another country.   
      
   “This is a safer town than it’s been before,” Polis told the Associated   
   Press in an interview. “Things are going really great” in Aurora, Polis   
   added, “and I don’t want this bizarre counter-narrative out there.”   
      
   Colorado polling favors Harris   
   Trump’s rally is unlikely to shift the political winds in Colorado, a now-   
   reliably blue state that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton won by 5   
   percentage points in 2016 and President Joe Biden won by more than 13   
   points four years ago. Recent polling gives Harris a double-digit lead   
   over Trump in the Centennial State.   
      
   The last major presidential candidate campaign rally in Colorado was four   
   years ago, when Trump had an event in Colorado Springs. This time, the   
   major-party candidates and their surrogates have visited the state for   
   campaign stops only to raise money.   
      
   Harris visited Denver for a post-State of the Union event in March in her   
   capacity as vice president, several months before Biden dropped out of the   
   race. After she became the nominee, running mate Tim Walz, Minnesota’s   
   governor, headlined a fundraiser in Denver in August.   
      
   Trump was in Colorado in August for a high-dollar fundraiser in Aspen. The   
   Guardian obtained a recording of Trump’s remarks at the event, in which he   
      
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