The former president (2017-2021) and Republican candidate Donald Trump referred this Monday to the arrival of migrants at the southwest border of the United States as an “invasion of murderers and child predators” during a rally in the city of Reading ( Pennsylvania), which has a 70% population of Hispanic origin.
“They come from all over the world, but also from South America (…) They are gang members, drug traffickers and thugs (…) Do you know that the crime rate has dropped a lot in Venezuela because they have sent their criminals to the United States?”, he stated. Trump at the Santander Arena in Reading.
Reading is located in Berks County, which voted in the two previous elections for the Republican candidate, within the ‘hinge state’ of Pennsylvania, crucial for the 19 electoral votes it provides.
The votes of the 600,000 Latinos called to the polls in Pennsylvania on November 5 will be essential to tip the balance in this ‘swing state’, which in 2020 leaned towards President Joe Biden.
«Small cities and towns all over the country are being invaded, there are many people scared. We have hundreds of thousands of these people in and many of them are criminals,” the Republican magnate repeated before an audience that at times remained practically silent.
Since the event was held during the week, attendees came mainly from nearby towns such as Allentown, Lancaster, York or Harrisburg, which make up the well-known 222 Corridor and where the percentage of Hispanic inhabitants does not drop below 40%.
This is not the first time Trump has made these comments:
Trump, who was accompanied by Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy at this event, also overlooked other recurring issues in his campaign such as hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’).
In the state where the first profitable oil well in US history appeared in the mid-19th century, Trump assured that his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, would end ‘fracking’ “in the first 24 hours” of his presidency. hypothetical government.
«Democrats say they like ‘fracking’ but they don’t. Ending hydraulic fracturing would be ending Pennsylvania,” he said of Pennsylvania, which decades later would become a bastion of steel and coal finally dismantled in the 1970s by a relentless process of deindustrialization.
In addition, Trump promised to cut electricity prices by up to half in his first year in office if he returns to the White House.
On the other hand, he used some of his most used cards, blaming the Biden Administration and Democrats for influencing American children to consider undergoing hormone treatments or gender transition operations.
“What do you think about your children going to school and when you pick them up, instead of being him, they want to be her?” he said in a county with deep religious roots.
Most analysts agree that the candidate who prevails in Pennsylvania during the November presidential elections will reach the Oval Office.
According to a survey published by The New York Times today, Democrats and Republicans spent $180 million and $170 million, respectively, on campaign ads in Pennsylvania alone from January 1 through Wednesday.
Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, already starred at a campaign event in Reading late last month; while the Democratic vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz, met with the city’s Latino community a week ago. EFE
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