The Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, expressed his support for legal immigration and border security on Wednesday during a forum with Latino voters organized by Univisión, where he accused some countries of sending "mentally ill" people to the United States.
Trump reiterated his criticism of President Joe Biden's immigration policy, claiming that countries like Venezuela "open the prisons and asylums" to send criminals to the United States, a claim that lacks solid foundations and has been considered a hoax.
In the forum, Trump defended his own immigration policy as a "historic success" and stated that Biden should have continued with strategies such as the "Remain in Mexico" policy, which allowed for the return of asylum seekers to Mexico while their cases were being processed.
He ensured that, under his administration, immigration was conducted legally and effectively.
He also emphasized his promise to carry out a massive deportation of undocumented immigrants and stressed the need for immigrants to arrive legally and not include criminals.
Despite his claims, several of his comments were refuted by data and previous studies.
Among the questions he answered, one was related to his previous statement that Haitian immigrants eat dogs and cats.
The question was asked by José Saralegui, a 67-year-old Mexican resident in Arizona, who self-identified as a Republican, but now feels "undecided."
The elderly man referred to what happened as "conspiracy theories," stating that the authorities in Ohio are clarifying again and again that Haitians are not eating dogs and cats, and he directly asked the former president if he believed that.
"That was something that was reported, I only stated what had been reported and they also ate other things that shouldn't be eaten... but well, all I do is report. I was there, we will go back, we will check, and I can give you a report when I do, but well, that's what appeared in the newspapers. Many reports were made," said Trump, giving credit and reaffirming his previous position.
However, the Republican candidate didn't stop there, and subsequently made a whole argument against small cities in the United States that have suddenly been invaded by thousands of migrants, something he says cannot happen.
"Regarding Springfield, it is a city of 52,000 people and they have added nearly 30,000 migrants to the city. If you are a person living there in Springfield, Ohio, and suddenly you can no longer access a hospital, your children can no longer access a school, you can no longer buy groceries, you can't pay the rent, if anything like that were to happen, it would be a disaster for you and you wouldn't like that," he added.
"We want our people to be healthy and safe and to be happy. Springfield is a perfect example: you have a beautiful, small city without problems, and all of a sudden 32,000 people arrive in that city, most of them don't even speak the language, they don't speak it, and what they are doing is looking for interpreters," he clarified.
Trump went even further, and what started as a question about dogs and cats turned into a reaffirmation of his anti-immigration policy.
"You can't just arrive and destroy. You can't place 32,000 people in a city of 50,000 in such a short period and expect everything to work out well. It's a total disaster. The people living there want to move to another place. We can't let that happen in the cities of this country. We can't allow it, it's not sustainable," he concluded.
In addition to the immigration issue, Trump sought to attract the Latino vote by promising support for small businesses, attracting investments, creating jobs, and reducing inflation through lower energy prices. He also highlighted his recent support from Elon Musk, the magnate of SpaceX and Tesla, in his efforts to reduce federal government spending.
With the elections on November 5 approaching, Trump has managed to reduce the advantage that Democrats had over Republicans in voter intention among Hispanics, which could be crucial for his campaign in key states like Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.
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