Trump lists his grievances in a Wisconsin speech intended to link Harris to illegal immigration
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. — Former President Donald Trump rambled through a list of grievances against Vice President Kamala Harris and other issues Saturday at an event aimed at linking his Democratic opponent to illegal border crossings.
A day after Harris discussed immigration at the US-Mexico border, Trump spoke to a crowd in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, about immigration. He accused Harris of allowing migrants to commit crimes after illegally entering the U.S., claiming she was responsible for “erasing our border.”
“I will free Wisconsin from the massive migrant invasion,” he said. “We are going to liberate the country.”
Trump hopes frustration over illegal immigration will translate into votes in Wisconsin and other crucial swing states. The Republican candidate has done that people exposed who cross the US-Mexico border as “poisoners of the country’s blood” and vowed to stage the largest deportation operation in US history if elected. And polls show Americans believe Trump would do better than Harris on immigration.
Trump switched from topic to topic so quickly that it was sometimes difficult to keep track of what he meant. He talked about the two assassination attempts against him and accused the US Secret Service of not being able to hold a large outdoor gathering instead of an event in a smaller indoor space. But he also made comments about climate change, Harris’ father, his beach body being better than President Joe Biden’s, and a fly buzzing near him.
“I wonder where the fly came from,” he said. “Two years ago I wouldn’t have had a fly here. You change quickly. But we can’t take it any longer. We can’t take it any longer.”
Trump repeatedly brought up Harris’ Friday event in Douglas, Arizona, where she announced a push to further restrict asylum applications beyond Biden’s executive order announced earlier this year. Harris denounced Trump’s handling of the border amid a bipartisan border package between the president and his opponents earlier this year, saying Trump “prefers to address a problem rather than solve a problem.”
“I had to sit there and listen,” Trump said last night, drawing cheers. “And who sets it up? Fox News. They shouldn’t be setting it up. It’s all lies. Everything she says is lies.”
The Republican candidate also stepped up his personal attacks against Harris, slamming her as “mentally retarded” and a “disaster.”
Trump claimed he did not understand what Harris meant when she said he was responsible for taking children from their parents. Under his administration, border agents separated children from their parents US-Mexico border inside a policy which was condemned worldwide as inhumane and which Trump himself put an end to under pressure from his own party.
Harris told supporters at a rally in San Francisco that there were “two very different visions for our nation” and that voters see them “every day during the campaign.”
“Donald Trump is the same old tired show,” she said. “The same tired playbook we’ve been hearing for years.”
She said Trump was “a very non-serious man.” “However, the consequences of putting him back in the White House are extremely serious.”
Trump’s event featured poster-sized mugshots on either side of the stage of men in the US illegally charged with a crime, including Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate, a case Trump cited in his speech.
Wisconsin Republicans in recent days have cited the story of Coronel Zarate’s arrest in Prairie du Chien as more evidence that people in the country illegally are committing crimes in the United States, and not just in the southern border states. Prosecutors charged Coronel Zarate on September 18 with sexual assault, child abuse, strangulation and domestic violence. His lawyers declined to comment.
Police Chief Kyle Teynor posted statements on Facebook saying Coronel Zarate is not a U.S. citizen and that he had two fake immigration documents, including a fake Social Security card. The chief added that Coronel Zarate’s tattoos indicate that he has ties to the Tren de Aragua gang, which started in Venezuelan prisons and poses a growing threat in the US
Speaking to the crowd on Saturday, Teynor emphasized to the crowd that Coronel Zarate is the only Venezuelan gang member to have come across his desk, but that the violence his two alleged victims suffered at his hands earlier this month was very real.
Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Derrick Van Orden, who is from Prairie du Chien, have criticized authorities in both Minneapolis and Madison for letting Coronel Zarate go. They said they essentially allowed him to attack the woman in Prairie du Chien. They have accused both jurisdictions of being havens for people in the country illegally.
Van Orden told the crowd that Trump was the only one who could restore order.
“You’re going to see the only man who has enough strength and conviction to stand up to anyone, even if he gets shot in the head in front of us,” he said.
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Long reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Will Weissert reported from San Francisco.