MIAMI, Florida — Walking a tightrope as he woos Latino voters, Donald Trump defended his call for mass deportation of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, even as he nodded to a need for immigrant labor during a town hall-style event Wednesday on the nation’s largest Spanish-language network.
“We want workers, and we want them to come in, but they have to come in legally, and they have to love our country,” the Republican presidential candidate said during the event, scheduled to air Wednesday evening. Trump was answering the question of Jorge Velásquez, a farm worker who said most people doing such jobs are undocumented and suggested, if they’re deported, food prices will increase.
Trump then returned to his criticism of Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, as part of the Biden administration for presiding over an influx of migrants with criminal backgrounds.
The event featured pointed questions for Trump, about his wife Melania’s support for abortion rights, noted in her new memoir, and about the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters who breached the building in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election results.
“Your own vice president doesn’t want to support you now,” said Ramiro Gonzalez, of Tampa, Florida, a Republican who said he was no longer registered with the party but wanted to give Trump the chance to win him back. Gonzalez was referring to former Vice President Mike Pence, who has disavowed Trump in light of Jan. 6.
Trump’s response: “Hundreds of thousands of people come to Washington. They didn’t come because of me. They came because of the election. They thought the election was a rigged election. That’s why they came.”
“That was a day of love from the standpoint of the millions,” Trump told Gonzalez.
Meanwhile, Harris was campaigning Wednesday in pivotal Pennsylvania for the second time this week, this time with a coalition of Republicans who are backing her over Trump, their party’s nominee.
As the race entered its final three weeks, Harris campaigned n Bucks County, a vote-rich stretch of suburban Philadelphia where Democrats have held a narrow advantage in recent presidential elections.
Harris was expected to talk about upholding the Constitution and defending patriotism at her appearance. She was to be accompanied by former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., and other GOP officials who have rejected Trump and argue he is a threat to American democracy due to his rejection of electoral norms and his support of the rioters who tried to stop the certification of his election loss to President Joe Biden.
Trump and Harris had campaigned in Pennsylvania Monday, when the Republican was in nearby Oaks while Harris was on the opposite end of the state in Erie County, among Pennsylvania’s most closely divided counties over the past two presidential contests.
Harris’ simplest path toward the 270-vote winning threshold in the Electoral College is by carrying a trio of northern battleground states, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Harris campaigned in Detroit Tuesday and planned to campaign in three Wisconsin cities Thursday.
As part of the series of national interviews Harris has been doing, she also planned to sit for an interview on Fox News on Wednesday.
Harris participated in a Univision town hall in Las Vegas last week.
___
Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.
