Aurora mayor pushes back against Trump's misleading rhetoric on crime before visit

Mike Coffman, the Republican mayor of Aurora, Colorado, fired back at former President Donald Trump Tuesday before the GOP presidential candidate's planned visit to his town over false claims about its immigrant community.

Coffman issued a statement on his Facebook page criticizing the former president over his false comments that claimed, without any evidence, that crime was on the rise due to Venezuelan migrants.

Trump, who first brought up the false claims during the ABC News presidential debate in September, is scheduled to visit the city Friday.

"The reality is that the concerns about Venezuelan gang activity have been grossly exaggerated. The incidents were limited to several apartment complexes in this city of more than 400,000 residents," Coffman said in his statement.

Coffman offered Trump a chance to meet with local law enforcement and get more information about the city's public safety.

"Former President Trump’s visit to Aurora is an opportunity to show him and the nation that Aurora is a considerably safe city – not a city overrun by Venezuelan gangs," he said.

Following the debate, Coffman and Aurora City Council Member and Public Safety Chair Danielle Jurinsky released a statement about their investigations into the Tren de Aragua gang at the center of the claims.

The officials contended the gang's "presence in Aurora is limited to specific properties."

"To date, APD has now linked 10 people to TdA and has arrested eight of those people. Two of the eight individuals who were taken into custody were involved in a July shooting at one of the specific properties in the city that have experienced issues with TdA activity. In line with these arrests, we can also now confirm that criminal activity, including TdA issues, had significantly affected those properties," Coffman and Jurinsky, also a Republican, said in the statement.

Despite the calls from officials to stop spreading exaggerated claims, Trump has continued to paint Aurora as a dangerous den on the campaign trail.

Calling into the John Kobylt Show on KFI AM 640 on Tuesday, Trump doubled down on false and unsubstantiated anti-migrant rhetoric and lashed out against Coffman and other leaders.

"You have many cities that are worse than Aurora. The mayor, the governor of Colorado, a liberal Democrat, [have] no idea what to do. He has no idea, and they don't want to speak up because they don't want to speak up against about, you know, their government," he said.