Mike Coffman, the conservative Republican mayor of Aurora, Colo., was watching the presidential debate and bracing for the worst. Before tens of millions of viewers: former President Trump was describing Coffman’s Aurora, a suburb east of Denver, as a city under siege, terrorized by migrants. “They’re taking over buildings,” Trump said. “They’re going in violently.” Aurora, population 404,219, supposedly was overrun by the violent Venezuelan street gang, Tren de Aragua. It became a cause célèbre for the right-wing media, and ultimately a key focus of Trump’s anti-immigration repertoire as he escalated his attacks on immigrants as part of his campaign’s effort to capitalize on voter concerns about the southern border crisis, reports the New York Times.
Caught in the middle are migrants living in dilapidated apartments that Aurora officials now call squalor, amid “criminal elements,” not widespread gang activity, and unable to find or afford better. The buildings are at the center of a national firestorm. “Because of one or two Venezuelans who wanted to do something wrong, we are now all accused of something,” said Yorman Fernandez, a 29-year-old Venezuelan who lives at one of the properties. “We are not all the same.” Coffman has had to reverse his own rhetoric as he watches Trump, the candidate he still said he would reluctantly vote for in November, continue to stoke fear in his community. The mayor has started a crusade to try to undo the damage Trump is inflicting. “I mean, I agree with him on a lot of policies as it pertains to immigration,” he said. “But I’m also the mayor of the City of Aurora, and my job is not only to make sure that the city is safe, but also to protect the image of the city. This narrative out there is exaggerated, and it’s our responsibility to correct it.”
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