In response to reporters’ questions, the former president says citizens of these two cities need relief from immigration crisis.
Former President Donald Trump said that if he wins the Nov. 5 presidential election, he will begin his much-discussed mass deportation operations in two U.S. cities where citizens have clashed with illegal immigrants.
“It’s like an invasion from within, and we’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country. And we’re going to start with Springfield and Aurora,” the Republican presidential nominee said in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., on Sept. 13, referring to Springfield, Ohio, and Aurora, Colorado.
Springfield has struggled with a burgeoning population of immigrants from Haiti—some coming legally while others arrived illegally.
Aurora has been besieged by Venezuelan gang members overtaking apartment buildings, as reported by attorneys representing the building owners.
Trump talked about the Springfield and Aurora situations during a news conference at a golf course he owns, Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles, in Rancho Palos Verdes.
When a reporter asked whether Trump would consider holding an event in Springfield “to show the media what’s actually happening,“ Trump replied, ”Maybe Springfield. Maybe Aurora. Maybe both. We’ll go there.”
He did not indicate as to when any such visit might be scheduled.
While Aurora’s difficulties have been publicized for weeks, Springfield’s issues rose to national prominence largely within the past few days.
Controversy over Springfield’s immigration crisis sparked bomb threats, forcing evacuations of several locations, including the city hall, on Sept. 13, officials said.
The stir, which appears to have sprouted on social media, grew exponentially on Sept. 10, while 67 million TV viewers watched a live presidential debate.
As Trump faced off against the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, he alleged that illegal immigrants were attacking and devouring people’s housepets in Springfield.
One of the ABC News debate moderators said that a top Springfield official denied any credible evidence of immigrants eating people’s pets.
Trump replied that his assertion was based on cited accounts, including videotaped statements that had been circulating.
President Joe Biden, in a White House speech on Sept. 13, said there was “no place in America” for such “attacks” against Haitians.
“This has to stop, what he’s doing,” Biden said, referring to Trump’s recent statements. “It has to stop.”
Amid the brouhaha, Springfield officials have continued to deny having any proof that Haitians have eaten residents’ housepets.
However, Ohio Attorney General David Yost, in a Sept. 11 social media post, said there is “a recorded police call from a witness who saw immigrants capturing geese for food in Springfield.”
Earlier this week, Yost announced his office was researching “legal avenues to stop the federal government from sending an unlimited number of migrants to Ohio communities,” such as Springfield.
“The sudden and extreme population growth has strained the city’s economic, medical and educational systems,” Yost wrote in a Sept. 9 news release.
“The problem is not migrants,“ Yost wrote. ”It is way, way too many migrants in a short period of time … a massive increase in the population without any communication or assistance from the federal government.”
At Trump’s Sept. 13 news conference, a reporter who noted the bomb threats said Trump’s claims were “debunked” and then asked why he was still spreading inaccurate information about Springfield.
The former president replied that reporters were missing the main point.
“The real threat is what’s happening at our border,” Trump said.
Large groups of illegal immigrants are entering the United States, he said, and many women are being killed in migrant caravans or being subjected to sex trafficking.
“Those are your real problems, not the problem that you’re talking about,” Trump told the reporter.
He repeated his past promise to tighten the the country’s borders, adding, “I will be your border president, and I hope you call me a ‘border president,’” similar to the informal title of “border czar,” used by some media and politicians to refer to Harris and her role in the Biden administration.
Jeff Louderback and Reuters contributed to this story.