Trump’s New Migrant Lies Are Somehow Even More Detached From Reality
Donald Trump claimed Wednesday that the towns he smeared with anti-immigrant lies actually suffered “hostile takeovers” by immigrants, and insisted that immigrants have been “taking over” cities across America.
During a campaign stop in Mint Hill, North Carolina, Trump continued to escalate his violent rhetoric about immigrant populations in Springfield, Ohio, and Aurora, Colorado.
“Kamala should have closed the border years ago and we wouldn’t have hostile takeovers of Springfield, Ohio and Aurora, Colorado,” Trump said. “Where they’re actually going in with massive machine gun-type equipment—they’re going in with guns that are beyond even military scope.”
“And they’re taking over apartment buildings. They’re taking over real estate, they’re in the real estate development business. Congratulations!”
Trump has continued to completely ignore statements from local officials, including Aurora’s mayor, who said that the assertion that Venezuelan gangs had taken over the city was “simply not true.” Aurora’s police chief said there is no evidence to support Trump’s claim that a Venezuelan gang had taken over an apartment building, which was really left destitute by its management company, according to residents.
As for Trump’s claim about immigrants using weapons “beyond even military scope,” it’s unclear where this originates, except that it’s a shocking thing to say. Here, Trump’s penchant for hyperbole, divorce from reality, and anti-immigrant rhetoric coalesce into something almost novel: unabashed stupidity.
Later in Trump’s speech, the Republican nominee returned to the subject of his two favorite cities, to continue spreading lies about the people who live there.
“The 21 million illegals she let in are now creating havoc throughout the country. Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio, are just two examples,” Trump said. “What they’re going through in those places, it’s unbelievable.”
“And they’re literally… taking over those towns. Taking over hundreds, those are two yer—hundreds of towns and cities throughout our country,” Trump said. “Including the big ones. Look at New York! All of the people, what’s happened to the quality of life.”
The Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are in fact not an “example” of “havoc” created by undocumented immigrants, because there was absolutely no evidence found to support the Republicans’ cartoonishly racist pet-eating rumors. And crucially, the immigrants are there legally as they have temporary protected status.
More than 200,000 immigrants have arrived in New York City since 2022, The New York Times reported in August. While the city has struggled to adapt to the influx of new residents, the asylum-seeking population represents only a fraction of the estimated 8.3 million people who live there—not exactly a takeover.
To that point, Trump’s claim that undocumented immigrants have been “taking over” hundreds of cities is plainly unfounded.
Trump had made a similarly outlandish remark about the right-wing claims that a Venezuelan gang had taken over an apartment building in Aurora, during a rambling speech on Tuesday. He quipped again that they’d become “real estate developers” with “weapons that even our military hasn’t seen.” It seems these are his new lines to be repeated at every speaking event.
“They’re going to take over a lot more than Aurora, they’re going to go through Colorado, take over the whole damn state, unless… I become president,” Trump said, grinning.
Here, Trump gives away the game. The Republican nominee is more than happy to spread violent lies about immigrants, creating stories about the terror they could bring, but it’s all in service of one thing: getting him back to the White House.