“I’m going to Springfield, and I’m going to Aurora,” Trump said during a political rally on Wednesday. 

The two cities have become focal points of the 2024 presidential election because of the national conversation surrounding illegal immigration.

Regarding Springfield, conflicting claims of illegal immigrants eating residents’ pets catapulted the small Ohio city into the national spotlight when the former president mentioned this during the presidential debate on Sept. 11. 

“What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country,” Trump said during the debate. “And look at what’s happening to the towns all over the United States. And a lot of towns don’t want to talk — not going to be Aurora or Springfield. A lot of towns don’t want to talk about it because they’re so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

Aurora became a focal point after accusations that members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang were living in the city, committing numerous acts of violence and taking over an apartment complex. CBS News reported that Perkins Coie law firm, located in Denver, was hired to investigate claims about Tren de Aragua and verified that the gang had a “stranglehold” over the apartment building. 

“The evidence we have reviewed indicates that gang members are engaging in flagrant trespass violations, assaults and battery, human trafficking and sexual abuse of minors, unlawful firearms possession, extortion, and other criminal activities, often targeting vulnerable Venezuelan and other immigrant populations,” former U.S. attorney T. Markus Funk wrote in the law firm’s report.

Trump’s political opponents have maintained that such accusations about both cities are sensationalized and untrue. 

Trump did not confirm a date for his visit to the cities. During the rally, the former president said it would happen in “two weeks.” Additionally, no details were provided about what such a visit would entail, whether it would be a political rally or some other event.