Former President Donald Trump spoke for roughly 80 minutes at his Aurora rally, focusing on the Tren De Aragua (TdA) gang and its presence in Aurora, immigration and Gov. Jared Polis.
Denver7 Investigates fact-checked some of the claims in the story below.
Tren De Arauga gang presence in Aurora
Roughly 10 minutes into his speech, Trump brought up the viral video of six armed men entering an apartment at the Edge of Lowry complex in Aurora. The surveillance video was recorded on Aug. 18, roughly 10 minutes before 25-year-old Oswaldo Jose Dabion Araujo was shot at the complex. He later died from his injuries.
Trump stated, “10 minutes later, they opened fire on a 25-year-old man outside the building, fatally shooting him.” The six men seen in the video have been arrested for felony burglary and menacing charges. However, they have not been charged in connection with Dabion Araujo's death.
The video went viral on social media after users claimed it showed members of a Venezuelan gang that had "taken over" the apartment complex. None of the six men have been connected to any criminal organization at this time but Aurora PD said "that piece of the investigation is ongoing."
“Aurora deals with crime issues and it deals with gang activity,” Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said at a Sept. 20 press conference.“We are not by any means overwhelmed by that issue. We are not by any means overtaken by Venezuelan gangs, TdA or any other gang.”
Regarding the apartment complexes allegedly taken over by the Tren De Arauga gang, Trump claimed that “80% of the residents are now living with their relatives in different states and other places. They’ve been forced out of the building.”
An Aurora spokesperson told Denver7 Investigates they don't know where that figure came from. Denver7 Investigates reached out to the Trump campaign and CBZ Management, which owns the troubled complexes, and has not received an answer.
Alien Enemies Act
Trump said if he was elected president, he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which is part of the Alien and Sedition Acts from President John Adams’ administration.
According to the National Archives, it is meant to be used during a “declared war.” In it, a president can call for deportation of immigrants considered a threat to the country. It was enacted during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.
Attacks on Polis
Trump spent a lot of time hammering Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. He blamed Polis for an effort to keep him off the Republican primary ballot.
“It was Polis who led the move to take me off the ballot because I was leading in the polls against all of the Democrats,” Trump said during the rally.
That effort did occur and did go to the U.S. Supreme Court, which voted unanimously that Trump could not be taken off the ballot. However, Polis was not part of that effort, as Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold noted in a press conference after the rally.
“Republican and unaffiliated voters, not Governor Polis, tried to kick Trump off the ballot because he incited the Jan. 6 insurrection and for being an insurrectionist,” Griswold said. “The Supreme Court never found that Trump did not incite the insurrection, rather they said the authority to remove an insurrectionist from the ballot rests with Congress first for federal office holders or candidates.”
