Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance sparred Sunday with ABC News host Martha Raddatz, who downplayed the threat Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua poses to the Colorado city of Aurora. Members of the violent gang, Raddatz said, have only targeted "a handful of apartment complexes" there.
Former president Donald Trump visited the city on Friday, vowing to use a law from 1798 to deport illegal immigrants who commit crimes under an initiative he dubbed "Operation Aurora." Raddatz questioned the move, arguing that Trump has "grossly exaggerated" the issue.
"Senator Vance, I'm going to stop you because I know exactly what happened. I'm going to stop you," Raddatz said while interviewing Vance on ABC's This Week. "The incidents were limited to a handful of apartment complexes—apartment complexes and the mayor said our dedicated police officers have acted on those concerns. A handful of problems."
Vance responded defiantly.
"Only, Martha, do you hear yourself?" he asked. "Only a handful of apartment complexes in America were taken over by Venezuelan gangs, and Donald Trump is the problem and not Kamala Harris's open border?"
"Americans are so fed up with what's going on, and they have every right to be. And I find this exchange, Martha, sort of interesting, because you seem to be more focused with nitpicking everything that Donald Trump has said rather than acknowledging that apartment complexes in the United States of America are being taken over by violent gangs."
Raddatz attempted to interrupt Vance before saying, "Okay. Let's just—let's just—let's just end that with, they did not invade or take over the city as Donald Trump said."
"A few apartment complexes, no big deal," Vance said.
Aurora, located just east of Denver, "has become a base of operations for the brutal Tren de Aragua gang, which has seized multiple apartment complexes and set off a wave of violent crime," the New York Post reported in August.
"Members of Tren de Aragua are accused of a slew of violent crimes across the US—including the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley earlier this year, and the shooting of two NYPD cops during an arrest in June. Leaders of the gang recently gave the 'green light' for members to shoot American cops who try to interfere with their criminal activity."