Donald Trump criticized Kamala Harris in front of thousands of people in Arizona on Thursday over her border security and immigration plans, saying she has turned the US into a human “dumping ground.”
Speaking to a packed Mullett Arena on Thursday in Tempe, the former president tried to make immigration the central theme of his speech in the border state.
“Kamala’s migrant invasion, brought to us through gross incompetence, disqualifies her from even thinking about being president,” Trump said.
“We’re kind of a dumping ground,” Trump said. ‘We are like a garbage can to the world.’
Donald Trump criticized Kamala Harris in front of thousands of people in Arizona on Thursday over her border security and immigration plans, saying she has turned the US into a human “dumping ground.”
The ex-president, clearly amused by his new metaphor, admitted that the phrase was brand new.
“It’s the first time I’ve said ‘garbage can,’ but you know what a very accurate description it is,” he continued.
Trump also said President Joe Biden is “not allowed” to say whether he wants to “lock him up” or now, referring to comments the 81-year-old made on Tuesday.
“The whole world is looking at us, and they see these people who don’t deserve to be in any position of authority,” Trump said.
‘Remember, he has – whether you like him or not, I’m not a fan of his – saw you last night
he screwed up? He said lock him up. He was going to lock him up last night, he said. He’s not allowed to do that. He’s such a stupid guy. Such a stupid fool. He’s that kind of person.’
He then focused back on his opponent.
“She was the border czar and she never made one phone call,” Trump claimed, insinuating that the vice president has done nothing to ease the historic flow of migrants entering the US over the past 3.5 years.
“No one responsible for so much bloodshed and death on our soil can ever become president of the United States.”
Harris, on the other hand, claims she has been working on the border, and says Trump has no plans to fix it.
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“We’re kind of a dumping ground,” Trump said of the US under Kamala Harris. ‘We are like a garbage can to the world’
Migrants, including women and children, prepare to cross the Rio Grande to reach the United States border to seek humanitarian asylum in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
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“I reject the false choice that suggests we must choose between securing our border or creating a system that is orderly, safe and humane,” Harris said in late September during a recent trip to the border in Douglas, Arizona. ‘We can and must do both.’
Trump, she said, “prefers to address a problem rather than solve a problem”
“And the American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than about playing political games and their personal political future.”
However, data from the Republican-controlled House Homeland Security Committee shows that there were more than 10.8 million encounters with migrants between fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2024.
Under Trump, there were only three million encounters with migrants between the 2017 and 2020 budget years.
Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris tours with Border Patrol agents and other personnel (not pictured) along the border wall, near Tucson, in Douglas, Arizona, U.S., September 27, 2024.
It was the second time the vice president had visited the border during her term
Immigration has repeatedly been ranked as a top issue for voters this cycle, and the ex-president focused on the topic during his speech.
In Arizona, border security and immigration appear to be the top issues among voters there Center for the Future of Arizona report found.
And recently, the former president has seen more favorable polling in the southwestern state.
The RealClearPolitics The national average of presidential elections shows that Trump currently has a narrow lead of 1.5 points over the Democrat.
Yet many of these studies are so close that they are within the margin of error, meaning the race is a dead heat.
According to national polling averages, Trump has taken a narrow lead in Arizona
Migrants regularly crossed the border in El Paso, despite the enormous amounts of barbed wire deployed there to keep out illegal crossings
After visiting the southwestern state almost every week since August, Arizona has become a popular base for the Trump campaign in the final weeks before the election.
Harris has similarly made several stops there as the election nears its climax.