LAS VEGAS – Former President Donald Trump announced Friday that if elected he would “liberate Aurora” by establishing a federal task force aimed at “degrading” foreign gangs.
Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan prison gang, has reportedly taken over several apartment buildings in the Colorado city since expanding its reach in the US amid a historic surge in illegal immigration under the Harris-Biden administration.
“They’ve been real estate developers, like I used to be,” Trump said of the organized crime syndicate during a rally in Las Vegas.
“They eliminated their rivals from Chile and from Colombia … How can we allow this to happen in our country?” the former president noted, referring to a recent Wall Street Journal report on the gang.
“In Colorado, the gang even got the green light to shoot the police,” Trump said, referring to a July memo written by the Homeland Security Investigations office in Chicago.
“It’s not acceptable,” the GOP nominee argued, before making plans to fight Tren de Aragua.
“When I return to the White House, I will launch a special task force of elite federal law enforcement and charge them with crushing and eliminating every foreign gang and organized crime network that has invaded our country,” Trump promised.
“We will deploy ICE, DHS and other federal officials to come in and free Aurora,” he said. “Can you believe that I have to say this? We will liberate a part of our country.
Police in Aurora have arrested 10 confirmed members of the Tren de Aragua in recent months.
The gang’s members used a dilapidated apartment complex in the city of 390,000 as a base, terrorizing residents there with gun crimes, theft and drug trafficking.
Earlier this week Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman and Council Member and Public Safety Chair Danielle Jurinsky confirmed that the Tren de Aragua “problem” has “significantly affected” several properties in the city.
However, officials have denied that the gangs are “taking over” the city, as Trump suggested in Tuesday’s debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
At the debate, Trump admitted in a Las Vegas speech that he was “angry” during the fight with Harris.
“Of course I’m angry,” he said. “We got 21 million people coming into our country – attacking our communities, attacking our towns and cities, and destroying our country.”
“I’m angry about the Venezuelan gang that took over Aurora, Colo., and I’m angry about the illegal Haitian migrants who took over Springfield, Ohio … and the American people are angry too,” Trump continued.
The Post spoke with some of the 6,000 Trump supporters who attended the event at the World Market Center, north of the Las Vegas Strip, and all were effusive in their praise of the former president.
Sterling Bawden, a Las Vegas resident, said Trump’s address was “very good,” and he predicts Nevada will be the GOP presidential candidate on Election Day.
“Because he’s the guy,” Bawden said, “Nevada needs a lot of things to do, and he’s the guy to do all the policies that he has and rebuild everything, you know, but make America great again.”
The state of Perak has not been won by a Republican presidential candidate since 2004.
Trump trails Harris by a margin of 0.6 percentage points in Nevada, according to the latest RealClearPolitics state poll.
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), who endorsed Trump last month and spoke at a rally on Friday, called the state a “must-win” for the former president.
“Pawn Stars” personality Rick Harrison, mixed martial artist Henry Cejudo, and Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sam Brown were among others who addressed the audience.
Lisa Marrone, from the city’s Spring Valley neighborhood, said Trump’s address “touched on everything that is a problem and needs to be worked on.”
He also applauded the former commander-in-chief’s plan for a task force to “liberate” Aurora from violent gangs.
Are they worried about a gang coming into their area? “One percent,” he replied. “We have to take our country back.”
