Astrid Lund - Betty MacDonald fan club organizer: "That's really very interesting! During Trump's time in office, violent crimes skyrocketed - under the administration of US President Joe Biden, they have decreased every year!"

Astrid Lund - Betty MacDonald fan club organizer: "That's really very interesting! During Trump's time in office, violent crimes skyrocketed - under the administration of US President Joe Biden, they have decreased every year!" --------------------------- DER SPIEGEL US elections 2024: Donald Trump rants about mass deportations 5 hours • 3 minutes reading time In a speech in the US state of Colorado, campaigner Donald Trump once again demonized immigrants. He promised to "free America" ​​and to apply a law from 1789 to do so. At a campaign appearance in the US state of Colorado on Friday, Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump painted an apocalyptic picture of the USA and once again demonized immigrants. "America is known all over the world as 'Occupied America.' They call it 'occupied.' We are being occupied by a criminal force," Trump said in the city of Aurora. "But to everyone here in Colorado and across our nation, I make this promise and this vow: November 5th will be the day of liberation in America." A video that went viral and was widely shown by right-wing media was filmed in Aurora, showing armed Latinos rioting in a residential building. This led to many false and sweeping statements that the city on the outskirts of Denver was being terrorized by Latin American immigrants - which in turn fueled Trump's campaign message that the USA was being overrun by "savages" and "animals." Trump calls Kamala Harris a "criminal" The former president called his Democratic rival Kamala Harris a "criminal" in Aurora and made the false claim that Venezuelan gangs in Colorado had been allowed to shoot at police officers. He spoke in gloomy tones of the "internal enemy," which he defined as "all the scum we have to deal with that hates our country." If Harris were president for four years, "200 million people" would come to the country, Trump said. The country would be "finished." Trump assured the audience that he would use a law from 1789 to fight criminal immigrant gangs. This allows the US government to round up and deport foreigners who come from a country with which the US is at war. Trump spoke of a mass deportation operation that he dubbed "Operation Aurora." The number of people entering illegally across the southern border is currently at about the same level as in 2020, the last year of Trump's presidency. In December 2023, the number of arrivals had peaked at 250,000 people. During Trump's time in office, violent crimes soared - under the administration of US President Joe Biden, they have declined every year. Proportionately, immigrants commit fewer crimes in the US than the rest of the population - but migrants have been named as suspects in several high-profile cases of violent attacks on women and children. This caused uproar among many Republicans. Local police in Aurora told the AFP news agency this week that they had only received isolated reports of activities by a Venezuelan street gang called Tren de Aragua. Aurora's Republican mayor Mike Coffman called Trump's claims "greatly exaggerated" and offered to guide the presidential candidate through Aurora. He spoke of a "safe city - not a city overrun by Venezuelan gangs". Kamala Harris wants to overcome the country's divisions US Vice President Harris, meanwhile, continued her campaign in Scottsdale, Arizona, with a contrasting message of unity. She promised to set up a "bipartisan advisory council" and to include a Republican in her cabinet. There have been "some powerful forces in our country" in recent years "that are trying to divide us as Americans," Harris said. "We have more in common than what divides us." Harris and Trump are neck and neck in the polls for the November 5 election. A recent Wall Street Journal poll showed Harris with a narrow lead in four of the seven most contested states, but all were within the margin of error.