Donald Trump is detouring from the battleground states Friday to visit a Colorado suburb that's been in the news over illegal immigration as he drives a message that migrants are causing chaos in smaller American cities and towns, often using false or misleading claims to do so.
Trump's rally in Aurora will mark the first time ahead of the November election that either presidential campaign has visited Colorado, which reliably votes Democratic statewide.
The Republican nominee has long promised to stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history and has made immigration core to his political persona since the day he launched his first campaign in 2015. Over the last few months, Trump has pinpointed specific smaller communities that have seen large arrivals of migrants, with tensions flaring locally over resources and some longtime residents expressing distrust about sudden demographic changes.
Aurora entered the spotlight in August when a video circulated showing armed men walking through an apartment building housing Venezuelan migrants. Trump has claimed extensively that Venezuelan gangs are taking over buildings, even though authorities say that was a single block of the suburb near Denver, and the area is again safe.
At the venue where he was appearing on Friday, chants of "Trump!" and guttural cries of excitement began before the sun rose and continued throughout the morning. Attendees trickled into the vast conference hall, curated specially for Trump's visit to Aurora On stage, posters displayed mug shots of people in prison-orange with descriptions including "Illegal immigrant gang members from Venezuela."
