Key takeaways from Trump’s Miami town hall: former president defends mass deportations

2 hours ago

Trump used a town hall event on America’s largest Spanish-language network, Univision, to address Latino voters in Miami on Wednesday, with pointed questions about abortion rights, the 6 January US Capitol attack and immigration all featuring.

Trump once again defended mass deportations and his baseless claims about immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. Here’s what else we learned:

1. Trump defended mass deportations
Trump’s call for mass deportation of immigrants who are in the US illegally was raised at the event, with the former president defending his policy, even as he nodded to a need for immigrant labor.
Trump was asked a question by Jorge Velásquez, a farm worker who said most people doing such jobs were undocumented and suggested, if they were deported, that food prices would increase.
He repeated false claims about immigrants coming from countries that were “emptying out” jails and “mental institutions”.
“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 Trump said during the event.
He said that the Biden-Harris administration had “totally lost control”.
2. Trump defended his baseless claims about immigrants in Springfield, Ohio
Trump stood by debunked claims that immigrants in Ohio were eating pets, telling Latino voters at the town hall that he was “just saying what was reported.”
Trump in recent weeks has amplified a false claim that has gone viral that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing residents’ pets or taking wildlife from parks for food. There have been no credible reports of Haitians eating pets, and officials in Ohio, including Republicans, have repeatedly said the story is untrue.
An undecided Latino Republican voter from Arizona, a battleground state, asked Trump whether he truly believed that immigrants were eating pets.
“I was just saying what was reported. All I do is report,” Trump replied. “I was there, I’m going to be there and we’re going to take a look.”
Trump added that “newspapers” had also reported on the claim, without naming any or providing any details. Trump, who has not yet travelled to Springfield, has previously said he would conduct mass deportations of Haitian immigrants from the Ohio city, even though the majority of them are in the US legally. The city has faced bomb threats since Trump began repeating the false accusations about Haitians.
3. Trump called 6 January 2021 ‘a day of love’
The event also featured questions about the 6 January siege of the US Capitol by Trump 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 the 6 January attack.
Trump responded: “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.
4. Trump was asked to name three virtues Harris possesses – and did
Trump was asked to name three virtues possessed by Harris, which he did, before again attacking her.
He said that “she seems to have an ability to survive”, that “she seems to have some pretty longtime friendships” and that “she seems to have a nice way about her”.
“I mean, I like the way some of her statements, some of her – the way she behaves, in a certain way. But in another way, I think it’s very bad for our country,” he said.
Harris was asked a similar question at her town hall with the network last week. She offered, “I think Donald Trump loves his family and I think that’s very important,” only to continue, “But I don’t really know him. I only met him one time … so I don’t really have much more to offer you.”