Trump avoids talking about ‘the largest deportation in US history’ in a town hall with Latino voters

On the campaign trail he has accused migrants of poisoning America’s blood; he has spread racist lies about Haitians who are in the country legally, and promised to carry out the largest deportation in U.S. history, a phrase that often provokes cheers at his rallies. On Wednesday night, however, Donald Trump was just another Republican seeking to make the border more secure and encourage legal immigration. The candidate was seeking to project a more moderate image and he reached out to Latinos, a key sector of the electorate, at a town hall event organized by the Univisión network in Florida. Trump dodged several questions and reiterated falsehoods that have been repeatedly refuted.

Jorge Velázquez, a farmworker who harvests strawberries and broccoli in California’s central valley along with hundreds of undocumented immigrants, wanted to know who would do the work and what the price of food would be if Trump carries out the massive expulsion operation. “So we want workers and we want them to come in, but they have to come in legally. We had people coming in under my administration, and they were coming in through a system that we had, which was great because I’m the best thing that ever happened to farmers, you know that,” Trump responded.

Despite his anti-immigrant rhetoric, Trump has held his ground among the Latino electorate, most especially among male voters. Although the majority of this group continues to support Kamala Harris in most of the swing states, the Republican is on track to achieve the best result with Hispanics in decades compared to other Republican candidates. Unlike other minorities, Latinos have the highest percentage of undecided voters in the election, close to 25%. This has led both candidates to court them. Last week it was Harris’ turn at another event in Nevada.

Despite having shown a more moderate profile, Trump avoided many of the answers that might have helped a voter who remains undecided 19 days before the elections. Guadalupe Ramírez, a mother of three and daughter of Mexican immigrants who participated in the Bracero program of the 1950s, asked the former president about his plans for immigration reform. “I want a secure border,” Trump said simply, and instead attacked the Democratic authorities who govern Chicago, the city where Ramírez lives, calling it “a very dangerous” and crime-ridden city.

An Arizona voter, registered as a Republican, gave Trump a new opportunity to distance himself from some of the controversies of his campaign. “Do you really think that Haitians, who arrived legally in the country, are eating people’s pets?” asked José Saralegui, who reminded the president that the authorities in Springfield, Ohio, have denied the statements. “All I do is report,” said Trump, adding that Haitian immigrants are “eating other things too that they’re not supposed to be.” Trump insisted, without providing a date, that he will visit Springfield, despite local Republican authorities asking him not to.

Ramiro González, a native of New Jersey with Cuban roots, gave the former president the “opportunity to try to win back my vote” “and criticized Trump for his behavior during the assault on the Capitol and for “taking so long to act.” He also asked him why so many people in his administration have stopped supporting him in his second campaign for the White House.

Trump listened to him with a straight face. Although he avoided the radical positions he usually displays on the campaign trail, the moderate tone evaporated completely when he spoke about the events of January 6, 2021, which he called “a day of love” and said people went there “not because of me, they came because of the election.”

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