Trump confirms plan to declare national emergency, use military for mass deportations

(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump is set to visit Aurora, Colorado, for a campaign rally on Friday after weeks of pushing misleading narratives about the city’s migrant population.

In the final weeks of his campaign, Trump has continued to focus on the issue of immigration, escalating his rhetoric on undocumented immigrants he often paints as violent criminals.

Specifically, the former president has used Aurora and Springfield, Ohio, to emphasize his point, both examples stemming from viral online stories he’s been quick to promote, often without proper context.

His false narratives on Aurora began last month when a video of armed individuals roaming around an apartment complex in Aurora went viral among right-wing social media influencers.

Trump, who has shared that video himself, has repeatedly claimed that members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang have “taken over” apartment complexes and “overrun” the city, despite the Aurora Police Department refuting allegations of the apartment complex being run by a Venezuelan gang.

Aurora’s Police Chief Todd Chamberlain has directly refuted Trump’s claims, saying in a press conference late last month that, “This is not an immigration issue. This is a crime issue.”

“We are not, by any means, overtaken by Venezuelan gangs,” he added.

The City of Aurora also provided clarity on the situation in a post on its official X account, stating that while there was a concern about a “small” presence of the Venezuelan gang members in Aurora, the city is taking the situation seriously. The city stressed that Aurora is a “safe community” and that reports of gang members are “isolated to a handful of problem properties alone.”

Still, Trump has continued to amplify these debunked stories to his supporters throughout the country as a rallying cry as he attacks the immigration policies of the Biden-Harris administration.

In the press release announcing Friday’s event, the Trump campaign described Aurora as a “war zone,” arguing people were crossing the border and descending upon the city “bringing chaos and fear with them.”

Similarly, Trump has repeatedly amplified debunked claims that Haitian migrants are eating pets in Springfield.

Trump’s visit is one that he has been wanting to make for a while to bring more attention to the country’s immigration policies. At recent campaign rallies, Trump has become more vocal about his desire to visit Aurora and Springfield.

While the Republican mayor of Springfield, Rob Rue, discouraged visits from candidates on both sides of the aisle, Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has presented the trip as a learning opportunity for the former president.

“The reality is, Donald Trump continues to tell economically damaging and hurtful lies about Aurora,” Polis said in a statement to ABC affiliate Denver7 amid ongoing discussions of a potential visit. “If former President Trump does visit, he will find the city of Aurora is a strong, vibrant, and diverse city of more than 400,000 hardworking Coloradans and a wonderful place to live, run a business, raise a family, and retire.”

Trump has launched attacks on the local and state officials on the campaign trail, often making baseless claims that Republican Mayor Mike Coffman and Polis are “petrified,” saying Coffman “doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing” – and even claiming they don’t want to raise the immigration issue because they want to be “politically correct.”

Campaigning in Uniondale, New York, last month, Trump, while declaring that he planned to visit Aurora and Springfield soon, suggested that he might not make it back out after his visiting those places due to unspecified crime.

“I’m going to go there in the next two weeks. I’m going to Springfield, and I’m going to Aurora,” Trump said in Uniondale. “You may never see me again, but that’s OK. Got to do what I got to do. Whatever happened to Trump? ‘Well, he never got out of Springfield.’”

Trump’s visit to Aurora also comes as he’s pledged on the campaign trail to begin his promise of mass deportations in Springfield and Aurora.

“We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country,” Trump said as he took reporter questions in Los Angeles, California, last month. “And we’re going to start with Springfield and Aurora, [Colorado].”

“We’re going to take those violent people, and we’re going to ship them back to their country, and if they come back in, they’re going to pay a hell of a price,” Trump also said.

Springfield has many Haitian residents who are either legally authorized to live and work in the U.S. or are protected from expulsion by law.

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(NEW YORK) — Luis Miranda is a political strategist, community organizer, founding president of the Hispanic Federation and chairperson of the Latino Victory Fund, an organization dedicated to building political power in the Latino community.

Originally from Puerto Rico, he’s also the father of musician, writer and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda.

ABC News’ Linsey Davis sat down with Luis Miranda on Monday to talk about the comments made about Latinos and Puerto Rico at former President Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden campaign rally on Sunday, Trump’s criticism of former first lady Michelle Obama and his prediction for Puerto Rican voters’ reaction to this rhetoric.

ABC NEWS: Luis, thank you so much for joining us. First, I just want to get your reaction from, from those comments about Puerto Rico, from the comedian at last night’s rally.

MIRANDA: It’s not the first time that Puerto Ricans are insulted by Trump or his people. We remember when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, how he withheld aid that Congress had appropriated to help Puerto Rico and used as an excuse that we were lazy and they wanted everything done for us.

So I think we’re going to mobilize some more and we’re going to go to those battleground states and make sure that we prove him wrong. We are not garbage and we are not lazy and we’re all American citizens ready to vote in this election.

ABC NEWS: The Trump campaign says the comedian’s words do not reflect its views. Do you believe that this has no bearing on the former president’s campaign platform?

MIRANDA: Listen, I listened to 5 minutes, while I was waiting for you, of the rally that it’s taking place, place in Georgia right now. And in those 5 minutes, he criticized Michelle Obama. I wondered if she’s now included in the list of enemies that he’s going to prosecute afterwards.

He then talked about transgender and how that it’s horrible. He talked about people coming from the border, being criminals. He’s talking about Latinos. He helped the crowd chant “Lock her up.” She, he criticized the fake news.

This is in 5 minutes, which means when you, that’s what is coming out of his mouth. When you organized a rally, when you organized a political event for yourself, for your party, every word that is said at that event represents who you are and the aspirations of your party and what you want to put in place if you were to be elected. This is exactly who Donald Trump is.

ABC NEWS: Do you think that this moment will galvanize Puerto Rican voters who were maybe going to sit this one out, or change the mind of those who were planning on voting for Trump?

MIRANDA: Listen, most people are going to vote for policies. We’re no different, Latinos. But what Trump did in this rally, it’s that he, the insult appeal to our heart, hurt our heart.

And those insults then mobilized people, people who were probably supporting the Democrats and Vice President Harris now said to themselves, “You know what? I was going to sit it out because I didn’t think it was important. But I don’t want this guy in the White House.”

I think the vice president said it best — we are exhausted, exhausted of this rhetoric, exhausted of this man constantly pitting one group against each other. And, and I think we are ready to move forward and close this page forever.

ABC NEWS: Mr. Luis Miranda, we thank you so much for your time and insight. Appreciate it.

MIRANDA: Thank you.

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(NEW YORK) — Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told “Good Morning America” Wednesday that presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver what “Americans are hungry for — a unifying president, one that wants to find solutions.”

Walz also sought on Wednesday to downplay comments made by President Joe Biden, who a day earlier had seemingly referred to supporters of the Republican ticket as “garbage” in response to former President Donald Trump‘s controversial Madison Square Garden rally.

When asked about Biden’s comments on Wednesday, Walz said, “The president’s clarified his remarks.”

“Let’s be very clear,” Walz added. “The vice president and I have made it absolutely clear that we want everyone part of this.”

Speaking during a Voto Latino campaign call, Biden had referenced a joke by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Trump’s Sunday event at MSG.

“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage,'” Biden said, according to a video clip on CNN.

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” the president had added. Biden later said the comment was only referring to the comedian in question, not Trump’s supporters more broadly.

But Republicans seized upon the comments to energize supporters. Trump’s running mate JD Vance, for example, described Biden’s remarks as “disgusting,” adding, “Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half of the country. There’s no excuse for this. I hope Americans reject it.”

With less than a week of campaigning left, Walz said Harris’ Tuesday night address at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. featured “the rhetoric that a president of the United States gives.”

The Democratic ticket, he added, is “one that understands we’re all in this together, one that welcomes robust debate about the issues.”

Walz said “dissenting voices” would “have a seat at the table because that’s how we find real solutions.”

The Minnesota governor contrasted Harris’ remarks to former President Donald Trump’s “divisive rhetoric,” which he said “needs to end.”

Harris’ closing argument at the Ellipse swiped at Trump while calling for unity.

“Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy,” Harris said. “He wants to put them in jail; I’ll give them a seat at the table,” she added, in reference to her campaign platform to include a Republican in her cabinet if elected.

“I pledge to you to approach my work with the joy and optimism that comes from making a difference in peoples’ lives,” Harris said.

“And I pledge to be a president for all Americans — and to always put country above party and self,” Harris added.

Walz told “Good Morning America” the campaign is confident.

“We’re winning this thing,” he said. “There’s energy out there. I have done this long enough to know these things are won at the end. We’re not taking anything for granted.”

“We know it’s going to be close,” Walz added. “We’ve got the better ground game. We’ve got the momentum on our side.”

“There will be a clear result,” Walz replied when asked about his concerns for the final week of the campaign.

“My biggest concern is Donald Trump has brought pessimism to folks. People believe their votes don’t matter. Your vote does matter. Get out there. Participate in this democracy.”

“I think you’re going to see Donald Trump continue to spiral downward in this really difficult and hateful rhetoric,” he added.

“We saw our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico have to endure this. We’ve seen it in Ohio with folks. That’s what’s going to end.”

Trump meanwhile, defended the MSG event as a “love fest” and said it was an “honor to be involved.”

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