DENVER — State leaders and immigrant advocates are reacting to President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation initiative.
Immigration was a top issue for voters across the country as Trump vowed to carry out a large-scale deportation operation.
It's a plan he promised his supporters during a rally he held in Aurora in October.
"I'm announcing today that upon taking office, we will have an Operation Aurora at the federal level," the former president said at the time. "We will send elite squads of ICE, Border Patrol, and federal law enforcement officers to hunt down, arrest, and deport every last illegal alien gang member until there is not a single one left in this country.”
Trump was referring to Tren De Aragua gang members, promising to begin that process in the city of Aurora.
Since the president-elect visited Aurora, he has also pushed for a broader mass deportation plan across the country. His campaign surrogates echoed that message during his October Aurora rally.
"We know who some of the bad people are. We start with them, then we move on to the next category," said U.S. Representative Harriet Hageman.
Now that Trump will return to the White House after his election victory Tuesday night, his promise to the immigrant community is much more real.
"What that brings is uncertainty. People feel unsafe," said Gladis Ibarra, the co-executive director Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition
"It is straight out of his playbook that immigrants are to blame for, and they are the target for him and his followers," Ibarra added.
A spokesperson with the City of Aurora told Denver7 Wednesday that Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman did not want to do interviews at this time, providing the statement below instead.
The city and Aurora Police Department focus on enforcing state and local law. As we always have, we will work with our federal partners and follow federal law and directives as they apply to our community.
Ibarra told Denver7 she is relying on positivity and hopefulness moving forward.
"We are in this together, and we will see it through, and we will continue to work towards a world that our families deserve," she said.
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