Former President Donald Trump is on a tour of the Southwest, with rallies scheduled in Tucson, Arizona, and Las Vegas, Nevada. He also held a press conference this morning at his golf course in Southern California.
Trump’s campaign says his focus is on the economy in these states, where the high cost of living, especially housing, is a significant concern for voters. Since the pandemic, rents and mortgages have skyrocketed in these areas.
On Friday morning, Trump criticized Vice President Kamala Harris and California Governor Gavin Newsom for what he described as California’s economic decline. “It’s very sad when I have to stand out here on my property and say how bad California is,” Trump stated in Ranchos Palos Verdes.
During the press conference, Trump spoke for nearly 40 minutes before taking questions from journalists for about 30 minutes. His speech included numerous unverified claims about immigrant communities.
Trump repeated false accusations about Haitian migrants during his Tucson rally. He wrongly claimed that these legal migrants are engaging in criminal activities such as pet abductions. He also continued to assert, despite pushback from Colorado officials, that Venezuelan gangs are out of control in Aurora, a Denver suburb.
At his California press conference, Trump reiterated his promise of mass deportations, targeting Springfield and Aurora specifically. “We will have the largest deportation in the history of our country. And we’ll start with Springfield and Aurora,” he said.
Local officials in both cities have urged Trump to stop spreading hate. In Springfield, threats have been made against schools and public buildings related to the city’s Haitian migrant community. Trump dismissed concerns about this rhetoric’s impact. “No, the real threat is what’s happening at our border. You have thousands of people being killed by illegal migrants coming in,” Trump said.
Trump also defended his controversial claims about rising violent crime, attributing it to migrant-related crime without evidence. He suggested that the FBI is falsifying its crime reports, although no evidence supports this claim.
Trump’s rhetoric is consistent with his previous statements, playing into his campaign’s fear-based message about immigrants and criticizing Vice President Harris for the Biden administration’s border policies.