JD Vance clashes with ABC News host over migrant gang presence in Colorado: 'Do you hear yourself?'
GOP vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance clashed with ABC News host Martha Raddatz on Sunday during an interview about the Venezuelan migrant gang members' presence in apartment buildings in Aurora, Colorado.
"I’m going to stop you because I know exactly what happened. I’m going to stop you. The incidents were limited to a handful of apartment complexes and the mayor said our dedicated police officers have acted on those concerns. A handful of problems," Raddatz insisted as he pressed Vance on Trump's statements during a rally in Aurora about the migrant gangs.
Several people with possible connections to the transnational gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), a violent Venezuelan migrant gang, were arrested in September after a surveillance video went viral showing heavily armed men kicking down an apartment door.
"Martha, do you hear yourself? Only a handful of apartment complexes in America were taken over by Venezuelan gangs, and Donald Trump is the problem and not Kamala Harris’ open border? Americans are so fed up with what’s going on, and they have every right to be, and I really 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," Vance said.
VENEZUELAN GANG’S ALLEGED TAKEOVER OF AURORA, COLORADO APARTMENTS BEGAN IN 2023: REPORT
Vance argued that they needed to make American communities "safe" again.
"When you let people in by the millions, most of whom are unvetted, most of whom you don’t know who they really are, you’re going to have problems like this. Kamala Harris’ 94 executive orders that undid Donald Trump’s successful border policies, we knew this stuff would happen," he added.
Raddatz pushed back again, "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 quipped.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
Aurora, Colorado Mayor Mike Coffman, a Republican, issued a statement in response to Donald Trump's comments at a rally in the area on Friday, during which he vowed to "arrest and deport every last illegal alien gang member until there is not a single one left in this country."
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
"The reality is that the concerns about Venezuelan gang activity in our city – and our state – have been grossly exaggerated and have unfairly hurt the city’s identity and sense of safety," the mayor said in a statement. "The city and state have not been ‘taken over’ or ‘invaded’ or ‘occupied’ by migrant gangs. The incidents that have occurred in Aurora, a city of 400,000 people, have been limited to a handful of specific apartment complexes, and our dedicated police officers have acted on those concerns and will continue to do so."