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    • Immigration is central during Trump’s Color rally: 3 tips
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    Immigration is central during Trump’s Color rally: 3 tips

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    Former President Donald Trump stepped up his anti-immigration rhetoric at a rally on Friday in Aurora, Colorado, repeating debunked claims that the city has become a “war zone” overrun by violent Venezuelan gang members.

    Speaking at the luxurious Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center, where rooms cost nearly $400 a night, Trump described Aurora as a crime-ridden community and blamed Vice President Kamala Harris’ immigration policies for creating the problem.

    “We are finally here, in Aurora, Colorado, to call the world’s attention … to one of the most egregious betrayals that any leader in any country has ever inflicted on his own people,” Trump said, falsely claimed that Harris “imported” undocumented immigrants from ‘the dungeons of the developing world.’”

    With less than a month to go until the election, the stop in Colorado marked an unusual break from swing state stumping — especially for a Republican candidate. Colorado has not been elected by a Republican candidate for president since 2004.

    More: Send us your political questions: Join Your Vote, our election messaging group

    But the visit offered Trump a chance to reinforce one of his central and most successful campaign themes: cracking down on immigration. It came more than a month after the ex-president named Aurora, along with Springfield Ohio, as a hotbed for illegal immigration during the presidential debate in September.

    “I will save Aurora and every city that has been invaded and conquered,” Trump told the crowd. “We will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them out of our country.”

    Here are USA TODAY’s key takeaways from Friday’s speech.

    Attacking migrants

    Trump announced a new plan – dubbed “Operation Aurora” – to remove undocumented immigrants with ties to gangs, using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

    “We will send elite teams of Ice, Border Patrol and federal law enforcement officers to arrest and deport every illegal alien gang member until there are none left in this country,” Trump told the crowd.

    He also called for the use of the death penalty for any migrant who kills a U.S. citizen or law enforcement officer.

    Trump has spent weeks trying to stoke fears that migrants have caused a wave of crime in small towns and cities across the US. Aurora has become central to those efforts.

    In the September presidential debate, Trump claimed that Haitian migrants ate pets in Springfield, Ohio, a claim also promoted by his current Ohio Senator J.D. Vance. But Springfield’s mayor and local police have said there are no credible reports of this event.

    Trump also claimed during the debate that members of the Venezuelan gang Tren took over Aragua Aurora, a Denver suburb of 400,000 residents. The charges stemmed from a viral video clip showing armed men at an apartment complex in Aurora.

    More: Why Trump’s immigration reform proposals face legal and feasibility problems

    Aurora police last month arrested 10 people linked to the gang on charges ranging from assault to shootings. But police and the city’s Republican mayor, Mike Coffman, have refuted claims that the gang and other migrants have caused widespread crime in the city.

    “The reality is that concerns about Venezuelan gang activity are grossly exaggerated,” Coffman said in a Facebook post ahead of Trump’s arrival. “The incidents were limited to a few apartment complexes in this city with more than 400,000 inhabitants.”

    Blue state blitz

    Trump’s rally marked the first time any of the major presidential candidates set foot in solid blue Colorado this election season. It is one of just a few stops in Democratic strongholds that the Republican presidential candidate is making in the run-up to the elections.

    Trump will campaign Saturday in Coachella, California, a city in Harris’ predominantly Democratic home state, and will hold a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City later this month. He also plans to visit Chicago with Vance next week.

    Trump said Friday he believed Colorado would play a role in 2024. He has made similar claims about New York, although he trails Harris by double digits in both states.

    However, his visits could help Republican House candidates in toss-up races. There’s a close battle in Colorado’s 8th District, previously held by Rep. Lauren Boebert, and another in California’s 14th District, near Coachella.

    Trump’s appearances in blue states could also be part of a larger strategy to highlight places where he believes Democratic policies have failed and to court key voting demographics such as Latinos.

    “Kamala Harris’ dangerously liberal policies have failed Americans across the country — from the Bronx to Coachella and Aurora — and that’s why President Trump is bringing his America First message and vision for hardworking families straight to their doorsteps,” RNC spokesperson Anna Kelly told USA TODAY in a statement. Trump held a rally in the Bronx, New York, where he brought rappers accused of gang crimes to the stage.

    Another benefit of stumping in unusual environments? Media attention. Trump, ever the master showman, could gain more attention in major venues and unorthodox stops in the final days of the campaign.

    A violent background

    Before Aurora found itself in the national spotlight on immigration, it was at the center of another current debate: gun violence.

    More: As Donald Trump returns to Butler, Pennsylvania, there’s one name he never mentions: Thomas Crooks

    In 2012, 12 people were killed and another 70 injured when a gunman opened fire at an Aurora movie theater during a showing of “The Dark Knight Rises.” The tragedy was one of several mass shootings that have sparked an ongoing political debate over gun violence in the US

    That debate has taken on new resonance this election, after two assassination attempts on Trump in the past six months. Both presidential candidates have called for a lowering of the country’s political temperature, but neither has changed their rhetoric much.

    Trump leaned on dark and sometimes violent rhetoric Friday to describe migrants entering the US

    ‘You can’t live with these people. These are cold-blooded killers,” he said at one point.

    Contributions: Reuters

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