Trump repeats anti-migrant claim officials say is exaggerated
Trump is now repeating his claim, which local officials say is an exaggeration, that apartment complexes in Aurora have been taken over by armed Venezuelan gangs, and saying Kamala Harris is to blame.
“Kamala has imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the third world,” Trump said.
“They come from the dungeons, think of that, the dungeons of the third world from prisons and jails, insane asylums and mental institutions, and she has had them resettled beautifully into your community to prey upon innocent American citizens. That’s what they’re doing. And no place is it more evident than right here, because in Aurora, multiple apartment complexes have been taken over by the savage Venezuela prison gang known as Tren de Aragua.”
Tren de Aragua members have been implicated in some violent crimes in Aurora, though city officials have said they are not as widespread as Trump claims.
Key events
Harris to announce economic policies benefiting Black men
As we await any announcements at the Trump rally in Aurora, here’s a bit more news from the Harris campaign: Harris is expected to announce economic policies benefiting Black men next week, just days after ex-president Barack Obama spoke directly to Black men at an event in Pittsburgh.
SCOOP w/@JarrettRenshaw :@KamalaHarris will highlight economic policies benefiting Black men next week as campaign sees weakness in key voting bloc, sources said.
The announcement is timed for interview on Tuesday with radio host @cthagod in Detroit. The Vice President will…— Nandita Bose (@nanditab1) October 11, 2024
Speaking at an event for Black voters ahead of his Pittsburgh rally yesterday, Obama questioned Black men’s unwillingness to vote for Harris – a September NAACP poll showed that over one-quarter of Black men under 50 say they will vote for Donald Trump.
“We have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running. Now, I also want to say that that seems to be more pronounced with the brothers,” Obama said.
“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses. I’ve got a problem with that.
“Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and reasons for that.”
For more, read our coverage of yesterday’s rally:
While Trump continues his remarks in Aurora, Harris is announcing at a campaign event in Scottsdale, Arizona, that she would create a bipartisan council of advisors if elected president, the Hill reports.
“Not only will I have a Republican in my Cabinet, but I’m also going to – I was talking to my team about it – I want to create some structure around the following. Which is, I love good ideas, wherever they come from, I love good ideas,” Harris said. “Part of what I intend to do … is creating a bipartisan council of advisers who can then give feedback on policy as we go forward.
“We need a healthy two-party system, we have to have a healthy two-party system,” she added, going on to invoke the memory of Senator John McCain.
New: Kamala Harris plans to create a bipartisan council of advisers to give feedback on policy if she’s elected president, she announced at a Republicans for Harris event in Scottsdale, Arizona. pic.twitter.com/JeiihXkhcr
— Stephanie Murray (@stephanie_murr) October 11, 2024
Trump has rambled off of his main point – immigration – and on to criticizing his opponent’s appearance on CBS’s 60 Minutes.
Because CBS edited the interview – which is customary – he is calling once again for CBS to be stripped of its broadcasting license: “CBS gets a license, and the license is based on honesty. I think they have to take their license away.”
For more on that, read Robert Tait’s story in the Guardian from earlier this week:
Trump is expected to announce “Operation Aurora” – which would invoke a 1798 immigration law to allow him to detain and deport non-citizens – at his rally today.
Bloomberg and Fox News have teased the announcement. The Brennan Center for Justice, a progressive non-profit, has explained how Trump has previously described his plans to mobilize the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which never sunseted:
Former President Donald Trump has promised voters that, if re-elected, he would “immediately” invoke the Alien Enemies Act to effect mass deportations of non-citizens from Mexico. He reportedly plans to apply the law broadly, targeting non‑citizens who are not suspected of any cartel involvement or narcotics trafficking. By using the Alien Enemies Act, a law enacted pursuant to Congress’s constitutional war powers, Trump could conduct the deportations summarily, without any of the hearings or other process typically accorded to non-citizens in peacetime and under immigration law.
The Center adds:
The Alien Enemies Act, largely unmodified since 1798, empowers the president to detain and deport non‑citizens in times of a declared war or presidentially proclaimed “invasion” or “predatory incursion” by a foreign nation or government. The law permits the president to target a broad swath of non-citizens, including all “natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects” of the hostile nation or government. It does not distinguish between non-citizens who are unlawfully present in the United States and non‑citizens with established legal status, such as permanent residents.
For those of you who’ve followed along with Trump and Project 2025’s planned use of the 1873 Comstock Act to restrict abortion access in the US, this use of ancient but unrepealed legislation presents an interesting theme.
Good afternoon, Cecilia Nowell here taking over for Chris Stein in the midst of Trump’s anti-immigrant screed in Aurora, Colorado.
Trump just finished showing attendees a four-minute long video, focused on Venezuelan migrants and Kamala Harris, that concluded with the slogan “End the Occupation. Liberate America.” He is now describing the United States as “occupied America” and 5 November, if he is re-elected, as “liberation day”.
Trump repeats anti-migrant claim officials say is exaggerated
Trump is now repeating his claim, which local officials say is an exaggeration, that apartment complexes in Aurora have been taken over by armed Venezuelan gangs, and saying Kamala Harris is to blame.
“Kamala has imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the third world,” Trump said.
“They come from the dungeons, think of that, the dungeons of the third world from prisons and jails, insane asylums and mental institutions, and she has had them resettled beautifully into your community to prey upon innocent American citizens. That’s what they’re doing. And no place is it more evident than right here, because in Aurora, multiple apartment complexes have been taken over by the savage Venezuela prison gang known as Tren de Aragua.”
Tren de Aragua members have been implicated in some violent crimes in Aurora, though city officials have said they are not as widespread as Trump claims.
After several minutes of thanking his supporters and various Republican big shots who are here for the speech (such as Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert), Trump is finally getting into his speech.
“With the help of everyone here today, 25 days from now, think of it, 25 days, we are going to defeat Kamala Harris, who has no clue what the hell is going on,” Trump said.
Donald Trump has finally turned up.
He’s on stage, though he has yet to speak. Instead, he’s gazing out at the cheering audience and bobbing his head as campaign staple God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood plays.
No clue what is keeping Trump. As we wait, let’s read the latest, from NBC News, on the former president’s tendency to skip out on paying the bill for costs incurred by local municipalities when he comes to town:
Former President Donald Trump held a third rally last month in Erie, Pennsylvania, which sits in the northwest corner of a swing state that could decide who wins the White House.
Like the two other times Trump has been to Erie to rev up his supporters, he left without paying the bill.
City officials haven’t yet tallied up what the Trump campaign owes Erie for public safety costs for his most recent rally in September.
But according to a city official, Trump owes the city more than $40,000 for the rallies he held there in 2018 and 2023.
Erie, whose bills were previously reported by the Erie Times-News, isn’t the only city that has hosted Trump rallies and not been paid by the campaign.
Including Erie, four cities and a county confirmed to NBC News that they’re still waiting for the Trump campaign to pay bills often associated with reimbursements for the costs of local law enforcement and other first responder personnel.
The final price tag is more than $750,000 for those five jurisdictions, with some bills dating back eight years.
At the same time, it’s not always clear cut whose legal responsibility it is to foot the bill.
Reached for comment, a Trump campaign official said in a text message that “questions related to local law enforcement and first responder costs should be directed to secret service.”
At least two municipalities seeking reimbursements said they didn’t have formal agreements with the Trump campaign about costs before the events.
Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi told NBC News that it’s the agency, not the campaign, that typically requests local assistance for such campaign activities.
However, the Secret Service “lacks a mechanism to reimburse local governments for their support during protective events,” he said.
Will Aurora be next?
Minutes have ticked by since Stephen Miller wrapped up his remarks, but Trump has not appeared.
The crowd, which is carrying “Trump Vance” signs and in which at least one person is wearing a shirt reading “I’m voting for the felon,” is listening to Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
Introducing Trump in Aurora is Stephen Miller, an adviser to the ex-president who, during his time in the White House, guided his hardline immigration policies.
Miller is unleashing nativist rhetoric, to cheers from the crowd:
We don’t need, in this country, homeless migrants, criminal migrants. We don’t need migrants consuming and depleting our public resources, overwhelming our public schools, overwhelming our hospitals, taking over our apartment buildings and, yes, murdering innocent Americans.
You have a right to love the community you grew up in. You have a right to love your neighbors as they are. You have a right to want a country that is of, by and for Americans, and only Americans.
Trump to speak in Denver suburb after vilifying migrant community
Donald Trump is scheduled to soon take the stage in Aurora, Colorado, a Denver suburb that he and his allies claim has grown dangerous due to immigrants. Local officials, both Democratic and Republican, have said such statements are exaggerated, but that’s not stopping the former president.
The ex-president is set to speak on a stage decorated with slogans like “deport illegals now”:
Here’s more about the claims his campaign has made about Aurora:
