A woman who fled her Aurora, Colorado apartment after a surge of violence associated with transnational gangs says she's voting Republican this year for the first time.
"I'm going to vote Republican down ballot," Cindy Romero told Fox News Digital. "And I'm going to do it every year until someone does something about this problem. I don't want my kids to be the next victims of this."
Romero and her husband lived in an apartment in Aurora, Colorado, for about four years. During that time, they witnessed increasing crime and violence.
The couple's security cameras recorded a group of armed men believed to be affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang forcing their way into a neighbor's house. Several shootouts occurred at the complex, Romero said. During one, a bullet hit her car. She said police rarely responded to her 911 calls.
Aurora City Council member Danielle Jurinsky helped the Romeros move out of the building in August. They now live about 30 minutes away, but Romero still has family and friends in Aurora and worries the gang activity will eventually spill into their neighborhoods.
"This invasion of these people — and I'm not saying migrants, because there are plenty of migrants that are here legally trying to do the right thing," Romero clarified. "[But] this invasion of bad people, criminals with guns, it can't be allowed to continue."
Her story caught the attention of former President Trump's 2024 campaign, and Romero appeared on stage at the Republican presidential nominee's rally in Aurora earlier this month.
"You're probably braver than I am," Trump said, inviting Romero, a self-described lifelong Democrat, up to the podium.
Romero told the audience, "We've got to get Trump back in office. We've got to get it done."
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Romero described her experience standing next to the former president as "really unreal."
"I haven't been treated very well by the other people that I've reached out to for help," Romero told Fox News Digital. "I reached out to who I thought would help me because I'm a lifelong Democrat, and I got nothing but pushback and called a liar."
Romero said both the government and the media have minimized or outright denied the presence of Venezuelan gangs in the Denver area.
"I guess I didn't realize there was such a stark difference in reporting from left-leaning media to, you know, center-right leaning media," she said. "Left-leaning media has denied the problem, downplayed it, said that it was only isolated."
But Romero said she has felt "embraced" by the right and conservative-leaning folks.
"I've been invited to meet with Mr. Trump, which meant so much to me because nobody would believe me," she said. "So far, they're the only ones who have come out and said, ‘Yes, this is going on and we support you.’ It meant a lot to me and it's life changing, how it makes you feel."
