In President Donald Trump’s nationally televised speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, he said the city of Aurora had “buckled under the weight of migrant occupation.”
Along with Springfield, Ohio, he said they were “beautiful towns destroyed.”
To be clear, Aurora is still here and operating.
In his speech, Trump claimed he had enacted the most sweeping border and immigration policy in U.S. history.
He blasted former President Joe Biden for an open border policy that Trump claimed let in 21 million people.
"Virtually all of them, including murderers, drug dealers, gang members and people from mental institutions and insane asylums, were released into our country," he said. "Who would want to do that?"
Aurora became a campaign talking point in 2025.
During the campaign, Trump used the alleged takeover of several apartment complexes by the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua as an election talking point. Officials in Aurora disputed the narrative.
“I'm excited for you to come here so I could show you that the narrative that is being presented nationally about this city isn't true, that there are no apartment complexes under gang control, that the city's not under gang control, Venezuelan gang control,” Mayor Mike Coffman said at the time.
However, the Aurora police chief has since said that members of the Venezuelan gang may have been extorting rent payments from residents of the Edge at Lowry apartments, and police alleged gang members were behind brutal attacks at the apartments.
Residents near the apartments told Denverite that safety became a significant concern. A Denverite analysis found that crime in Aurora is generally down, but felony charges increased in some areas near the Edge and related apartments.
Trump did not meet with Coffman on his campaign stop. Nor did he tour the controversial apartments. But, at least for a while, he named his mass deportation plans Operation Aurora.
In his state of the city address in October, Coffman said Trump’s comments risked harming business in the city.
“To let that narrative stand has consequences to the city, real consequences for businesses that are thinking about moving here, for conventions that are thinking about coming here,” he said. “What is important as mayor is to stand up and to never, never let anyone sacrifice the interest of this city for a political campaign. Never, never.”
The apartments in question have been shut down by the city of Aurora over crime and other concerns.
Last month, federal police raided several apartment buildings and drove through the streets of Aurora, reportedly planning to arrest 100 members of Tren de Aragua.
Though dozens of people were arrested, ICE has not responded to multiple requests for comment about how many people were detained or how many had a criminal record.
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, was disappointed in the results of the highly visible operation and blamed the failure on leaks, saying someone in the federal government had tipped off activists. He also threatened to arrest activists for letting people know about their constitutional rights during ICE actions.
