Harsh speeches against undocumented immigration have been a consistent feature of Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns going back to his first campaign.
On the day of his first presidential bid in June 2015, Trump accused Mexico of “not sending the best people.”
“They bring drugs, they bring crime, they are violent and some of them, I think, are good people. But I talk to the border guards and they tell us what we got,” he said, setting the tone for the MAGA movement.
Since then, through three campaigns and four years in the White House, Trump has continued to use inaccurate, derogatory and often racist language to refer to immigrants from around the world. In a recent iteration, he accused Haitian immigrants in Ohio of stealing and eating people’s pets.
Take a look at the kind of language Trump used:
Unclean
Some of Trump’s comments echoed the language used by white supremacists, such as his claim that immigrants were “poisoning the blood” of the country. Adolf Hitler used the phrase.blood poisoning” Criticizing race mixing in Mein Kampf.
“Thus, hundreds of thousands of our people are flowing from Haiti. Haiti has a huge AIDS problem. … Most of those people will probably get AIDS and they come to our country. And we don’t do anything about it, we let everyone in… It’s like a death wish for our country.” [10/7/21]
“I think that the real number in our country is 15.16 million. When they do, we have a lot of work to do. They are poisoning the blood of our country.” [12/16/23]
Not human
Trump’s disparaging comments often target non-white immigrants; In 2018, he told Haiti and the people of Africa, “bad countries.” His recent claims about Haitian immigrants in Ohio it has no basis in fact and partially pushed, by a neo-nazi group.
“They don’t care about crime, and as bad as they are, they want illegal immigrants to pour in and infect our country like MS-13.” [6/19/18]
“Democrats are saying, ‘Please don’t call them animals.’ They are human. I said no, they are not human, they are not human. They are animals.” [4/2/24]
“They eat dogs, people who come in, cats. They eat the pets of the people who live there, and that’s what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.” [9/10/24]
Dangerous
Trump often links undocumented immigrants to increased crime. But data ises does not support America’s immigrant-driven crime wave. there is no evidence that “millions” of people came to the country from prisons and mental institutions.
“The people we get are drug lords, we get gang members and we get some good people, but we don’t get the best and the best from South America, believe me.” [4/22/15]
“But if they’re here, they are [Syrian refugees] we have to go back because we can’t take our chances. If you look at the street, they are young, strong men. We cannot take the risk that the people who come here will be affiliated with ISIS.” [11/17/15]
“At that moment, well-organized large caravans of migrants are moving towards our southern border. Some call it an invasion. … These are hard people in many cases; many young, strong men and many men, maybe we do not want in our country. … This is not an innocent group of people. What is difficult is the sheer number of people. They injured and attacked.” [11/1/18]
“They are rough people from prisons, jails, mental institutions, insane asylums in many cases. You know, madhouses, it’s The Silence of the Lambs. … Hannibal Lecter, does anyone know Hannibal Lecter? [3/4/24]
“They’re coming from China – 31, 32,000 in the last few months – and they’re all of military age and mostly men. And it seems to me that they are trying to build a small army in our country? Are they trying to do that?’ [4/13/24]
Joe Biden is “letting in millions of people from jails, prisons, insane asylums, mental institutions, drug dealers.” [5/29/24]
“We also have an illegal immigration crisis and it’s happening as we sit in this beautiful arena. This is a massive invasion on our southern border, spreading misery, crime, poverty, disease and devastation to communities across our land.” [7/19/24]
“Comrade Kamala is not only allowing illegal aliens to cross our border, but it was announced about a year ago that they are actually letting them in. No one knew they were secretly flying in hundreds of thousands of people, some of the worst killers and terrorists you’ve ever seen.” [9/13/24]
The destruction of American jobs and the way of life
Trump faced serious criticism after the first debate for the 2024 presidential election offers Blacks and Hispanics only have certain types of jobs. The data also showed that immigrants helped Strengthening the US economy and mostly They do not accept jobs from US citizens.
“It changes the country, it threatens the country and it destroys the country. They destroyed our country.” [4/2/24]
“They’re hiring black people now, and it could be 18, 19 or even 20 million people. They’re taking black jobs, they’re taking Hispanic jobs, and you haven’t seen it yet, but you’re going to see something that’s going to be the worst in our history.” [6/27/24]
“They can’t speak English. They practically do not even know what country they are in.” [9/10/24]
Trump’s comments have been a key part of his appeal since he began campaigning in 2015, helping him first gain ground among Republican primary voters most concerned about immigration and then expand to a wider audience.
Some Latino voters have been drawn to Trump: he and Republicans have made gains in the demographic since his first bid for the presidency in 2016, according to exit polls and other surveys.
The spokeswoman of the Republican National Committee, Anna Kelly, drew attention to the information about the types of undocumented immigrants who came to the country.
“President Trump is telling the truth: The Harris-Baden administration allowed it More than 350 terror suspects cross the border to our country, About 16,000 illegal immigrants persons with previous criminal liability who tried to cross the border were arrested About 3,500 illegal immigrants were not checked They are released to the United States every day,” he said. “Americans, including Hispanic Americansthe vast majority support “President Trump has a plan to secure the border and they are ready to make America safe again on November 5.”
According to an NBC News study, encounters with noncitizens with criminal records were 64,000 under Trump and 112,000 under Biden. Border encounters with people on the terrorist watch list were 1,432 during the Trump era and 1,809 during the Biden era.
Juan Proaño, chief executive of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the nation’s oldest Latin American civil rights organization, said he believes Trump’s “campaign rhetoric this time around is very, very, very much targeting groups in conflict.” to each other.
“This is about as divisive politics as you can get, and probably as divisive as we’ve seen in a generation,” Proaño said.
LULAC endorsed Harris last month; this was it The first approval of the President in the band’s 95-year history. LULAC has just been released report It shows a 357% increase in anti-immigration legislation since 2020.
Trump’s rhetoric is “really having a significant chilling effect and affecting our communities. … But my big concern is that, by God, what will happen if he takes office? Proanio said. “I take him at his word that he’s going to cut taxes, so when he says he’s going to go, I have to take him at his word. to deport up to 15 million lats”.