Donald Trump, who has centered his presidential campaign around the claim that immigrants are “destroying” the United States and has advocated for mass deportation, faced challenging questions from undecided Hispanic voters during a town hall event on Tuesday.
The event, hosted by Univision—the largest Spanish-language network in the U.S.—brought together several dozen Latino voters from various states. They questioned Trump on immigration, the economy, abortion, and other significant issues.
As Trump attempts to win over Latino voters, he struggled to provide clear answers on specific policies while continuing to spread misinformation about immigration. In front of an audience of 100 voters, he notably did not mention his plans for what would be the largest mass deportation in U.S. history.
When pressed by a registered Republican about his repeated claims that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, Trump stood by his statement. “I was just saying what was reported,” he asserted, adding that migrants were “eating other things too, that they’re not supposed to.”
Guadalupe Ramirez, whose parents immigrated from Mexico, asked Trump for clarification on his proposals and questioned why he urged lawmakers to oppose a bipartisan immigration reform bill. Instead of providing specifics, Trump criticized Democratic leaders and claimed that migrants were increasing crime rates while boasting about having the “strongest border.”
Jorge Velázquez, a California farmworker, directly asked who would perform the labor of harvesting America’s fruit if many undocumented workers were deported. Trump avoided the question and accused new immigrants of taking jobs away from Hispanic Americans. He continued to describe migrants as “hundreds of thousands of people that are murderers, drug dealers, and terrorists.”
“We have to have people that are great people come into our country,” Trump stated. “I want them in even more than you do.” However, he did not address the topic of deportations directly.
In contrast, Vice President Kamala Harris also held a town hall with Univision where she discussed her policies aimed at combating inflation and protecting abortion rights. She cautioned that her opponent was spreading misinformation and creating division among Americans.
“I know that the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us,” Harris said. “It pains me to see the approach that Donald Trump and others take, suggesting it’s us versus them and using language that belittles people. I don’t think that’s healthy for our nation.”
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