The former US president has accused Vice President Kamala Harris of importing “an army of illegal alien gang members”
Former US President Donald Trump has called for the death penalty for immigrants who kill American citizens, vowing to rid the country of foreign criminal gangs if he returns to the White House.
Addressing supporters in Aurora, Colorado, on Friday, Trump said that he was “hereby calling for the death penalty for any migrant who kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer.”
Trump has recently made Aurora a focal point of his anti-immigration rhetoric, blaming the lax border policies of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the Denver suburb becoming “occupied” by Venezuelan criminal gangs.
Around 40,000 Venezuelan immigrants have arrived in Aurora since 2022, and now account for 10% of the city’s population. While most of these immigrants entered the US illegally, the majority have been granted permission to live and work in the US for two years under a scheme rolled out by the Biden administration in October of that year.
This influx resulted in a spike in violent and gang-related crimes, which local authorities say has since subsided. However, the issue was thrown back into the spotlight in August when the owner of an apartment complex claimed that his property had been taken over by heavily armed men affiliated with the Tren de Aragua criminal organization. His claims were backed up by video footage and testimony from other Aurora residents, but police said that reports of gang activity in Aurora were “isolated.”
However, more than a dozen alleged Tren de Aragua members have been arrested in police raids since August, according to local news reports and statements from law enforcement.
”Kamala has imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the third world,” Trump told his supporters on Friday. “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.”
The Republican candidate, who is currently neck-and-neck in the polls with Harris, then promised to launch “Operation Aurora” to “expedite the removals of these savage gangs.” Trump has previously vowed to lead “the largest deportation operation in American history” if re-elected next month.
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There were around 10.2 million illegal immigrants living in the US in 2020. Under Biden, who tasked Harris in 2021 with overseeing border security, at least 10.6 million more have entered the country, according to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) figures.
According to data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last month, 425,431 convicted criminals and 222,141 people with pending criminal charges entered the US illegally and are living free inside the country while awaiting court hearings or deportation proceedings. These include 62,231 convicted of assault, 56,533 with drug convictions and 13,099 convicted of homicide.
