Trump seeks boost in Arizona by focusing on immigration

 Trump seeks boost in Arizona by focusing on immigration

by Brett Samuels 

© Getty Images

President Trump on Tuesday put immigration front and center in a campaign speech in Arizona, taking aim at presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden's agenda and betting that his intense focus on the issue will help him carry a key swing state in November.

"Biden's plan is the most radical, extreme, reckless, dangerous and deadly immigration plan ever put forward by a major-party candidate. It must be defeated and it will be defeated on Nov. 3," Trump told a raucous crowd of supporters in Yuma.

The president touted his own administration's achievements in rounding up migrants and installing additional security measures at the border, rattling off statistics on border crossings and arrests. He argued that his intense focus on criminal activity and crackdown on the flow of immigrants into the U.S. have improved safety and the economy.

Trump, as he has done in recent speeches, conversely offered a bleak assessment of a country under Biden's leadership, claiming that the former vice president would take away basic freedoms and allow a surge of dangerous criminals into the country.

"Compare our achievements with the insane and lethal policies that Biden and [Sen.] Bernie Sanders [I-Vt.] want," Trump said. "The Biden-Harris plan is a step-by-step recipe for abolishing America's borders."

But some of Trump's assertions about Biden's immigration agenda were exaggerated or inaccurate. 

For example, the former vice president has not said he would tear down already constructed portions of the border wall, as Trump has claimed, but that he would discontinue construction. And the Democratic Party has not advocated for the dissolution of the country's borders, as the president asserted Tuesday.

Biden's agenda does call for reversing the Trump administration's public charge rule and rescinding the president's travel ban that affects several majority-Muslim countries. The former vice president also supports increasing the number of refugees accepted into the U.S. and expanding visa protections for certain groups.

Trump's unwavering stance on restricting illegal and legal immigration has been a calling card of his since he launched his campaign in 2015 with a pledge to build a wall along the southern border and get Mexico to pay for it. Mexico has not paid for the wall, and Trump has instead relied on a national emergency declaration and military funds to construct the barrier or replace existing sections.

The president has otherwise followed through in instituting a rigid immigration agenda, appeasing his base of supporters.

The Supreme Court in 2018 upheld a modified version of Trump's travel ban, which the administration expanded earlier this year; the Department of Homeland Security in 2018 briefly instituted a zero tolerance policy that led to the separation of hundreds of migrant children from their parents; Trump has slashed the number of refugees the U.S. accepts each year; and the president earlier this summer issued a memo to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census.

Arizona will go a long way in determining the outcome of the presidential election and control of the Senate in November. A RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Trump, who won the state in 2016, trailing Biden by 2 percentage points. Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) trails Democrat Mark Kelly by roughly 7 percentage points.

The Yuma event took place in an open-air environment where hundreds of supporters were packed closely together. Many attendees wore face coverings and waved makeshift fans to cool down in the 100-degree heat.

Trump made only a passing mention of the coronavirus pandemic during his speech when he praised Gov. Doug Ducey (R) for his handling of a massive outbreak in Arizona last month.

Tuesday marked the second consecutive day Trump visited potential swing states in a bid to counter-program the Democratic National Convention. Prior to his speech in Yuma, he stopped in Iowa to hear from lawmakers there about the recovery from a devastating derecho storm last week.

Trump on Monday held campaign rallies in Minnesota and Wisconsin. He is expected to speak on Thursday in Pennsylvania as he bids to soak up the spotlight that would otherwise be focused on speeches from prominent Democrats each night this week.

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