The first question of Tuesday night's debate between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris was about the economy, but Trump quickly moved on to scapegoating immigrants.
Trump said immigrants are “flooding” into the country from prisons and mental institutions abroad and taking jobs away from black and Latino Americans.
Trump has seized on immigration as an issue that could bring him back to the White House, repeating anti-immigrant rhetoric and criticizing Harris, whom he refers to as the “border czar,” over the issue, even though her official role was not border control but to examine the root causes of migration from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
After being asked directly about immigration, Trump returned to the topic again and again in the televised debate from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
At 6:46 p.m., when asked about the January 6, 2021, insurrection, he avoided talking about his supporters storming the U.S. Capitol and said migrants who are killing people should be prosecuted.
At 6:52 p.m., when asked why he refused to accept that he had lost the 2020 election, he said the country needs borders and walls to prevent immigrants from entering and voting illegally. (Election experts have repeatedly said such cases are rare.)
And when the 90-plus minute debate finally ended, he brought up immigration again in his closing remarks. He said Harris has had three and a half years to fix the border. “Why hasn’t she done it?” he asked.
Immigration is a sensitive issue for Harris, and polls show many Americans believe Trump will be more effective than she is at controlling the border. She pivoted from directly answering a question about why the Biden administration waited until six months before the election to take action at the border after arrivals hit record levels.
Border arrests have dropped by more than 50% since the Biden administration implemented asylum restrictions in June. Increased enforcement by Mexican immigration authorities and summer heat also contributed to lower numbers of migrants arriving.
Instead, Harris expressed support for what she called “the toughest border enforcement bill in decades,” which would have added 1,500 border agents and additional resources to stop the flow of fentanyl and transnational gangs.
Trump pressured House Republicans to drop their support for that bipartisan border security deal this year.
“This comes at a time when the people of our country really need a leader who is committed to finding solutions, who is actually addressing the problems at hand,” Harris said. “But what we have in the former president is someone who would rather campaign on a problem than solve it.”
Asked why he had rejected the bill, Trump also strayed from a direct answer. “Our country is losing its way,” he said, referring to immigrants entering the United States. “They’re going to end up in World War III.”
Trump falsely claimed that in Springfield, Ohio, immigrants “are eating the dogs… they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people who live there.”
On Tuesday, Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) shared false claims that Haitian migrants are stealing and eating pets in Springfield. Officials there say they have not received credible reports corroborating the rumors, which spread quickly on social media as they were amplified by public figures criticizing Harris’ record at the border.
Harris responded to Trump's comment with a laugh: “How extreme!”
Trump has promised to launch “the largest deportation operation in American history” if re-elected. Asked how he would deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, Trump did not explain. He said violent crime has declined in other countries but is “through the roof” in the United States because of immigrants.
The FBI says violent crime is down in the United States. Studies also show that undocumented immigrants have lower crime rates than U.S.-born citizens. There has also been no evidence that foreign prisons are being emptied to send criminals to the United States. Trump has repeatedly made that claim, though it has been debunked.
Offered a chance to respond to Trump's claim about crime, Harris said, “It's important that we move forward, that we turn the page on this same old, tired rhetoric and address the needs of the American people,” such as small business support, housing shortages and food prices.
“Frankly, the American people are tired of this same, tired old playbook,” he said.
