DENVER — In an exclusive sit-down interview Thursday with Denver7, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis weighed in on former President Donald Trump’s scheduled visit to Aurora on Friday, saying it offered “an opportunity to counter the bizarre narrative” about the city.
Trump is set to visit after making Colorado’s third-largest city the poster child for his stance on U.S. immigration policy. During last month’s presidential debate, the Republican nominee amplified false claims of Venezuelan gang members “taking over buildings” in Aurora and has since promised “mass deportations” of immigrants in Aurora.
Police have identified at least 10 members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua operating in Aurora, but claims that those gang members have taken control of a set of apartment buildings – fueled by a viral video of armed men entering an apartment unit in August – have been debunked.
Trump also claimed cities like Aurora are facing “the highest level of criminality.” Recent crime stats, Polis said, refute that claim.
“Crime is down two years in a row in Aurora,” he told Denver7 Thursday. "Like any big city across the country, of course, it has problems with crime and gangs. [But] they have a new police chief, and we funded additional police officers on the street... And I think that it's really finally got its footing in a way that it's on the map as it should be, as a great Colorado city and a great American city."
Trump's campaign and the thousands of its supporters expected to attend Friday's event offer the city and the state an opportunity, Polis continued.
"Hopefully they'll stay in our hotels, they'll spend money in our restaurants, they'll visit the great attractions in Aurora, and they might even venture into Denver and beyond." he said. "So it's an opportunity to really counter this bizarre narrative.”
Denver has seen more than 40,000 immigrants, primarily from Venezuela, arrive in the city in the last 22 months. We asked the governor for his thoughts on what needs to be done to address the immigration crisis.
His response included increasing the number of border security agents and “high-tech border security,” as well as items like expedited asylum claims processing that were included in a bipartisan border bill that failed earlier this year.
Polis also offered rather pointed criticism of Trump’s stance on immigration.
“I really feel that this is an issue for Donald Trump that he doesn't want to solve,” Polis said. “He wants to keep the border porous and illegals coming across because he wants to talk about it. He doesn't want to solve it.”
When Trump vowed three weeks ago to visit Aurora, Polis welcomed him to see “a strong, vibrant, and diverse city of more than 400,000 hardworking Coloradans.” He echoed those same sentiments Thursday.
“I'm thrilled to have everybody visit Aurora and see how great a town it is,” he said. “If you want to start a business, if you want a great place to raise a family, all of Colorado is terrific, but Aurora is a fast-growing, incredible city with lots of great opportunities to live a great life.”