Donald Trump railed President Joe Biden’s recent executive action on immigration on Thursday in Arizona, a key battleground state where border issues play a big role in electoral politics.
Speaking at a town hall organized by the conservative youth organization Turning Point, the former President pledged to scrap Biden’s executive action that aims to clamp down on migrants seeking asylum.
“Biden’s order is not a border security plan,” Trump said. “It’s a concession to the fact that he has lost control over a border. And it’s a really dangerous place. On day one of my administration, I will be rescinding crooked Joe’s outrageous executive order.”
Trump has made hard-line immigration policies the center of his political identity since he entered politics in 2016 and is frequently critical of Democrats on the issue. He dialed up the rhetoric Thursday in the border state, blaming the president for “deliberate demolition of our sovereignty and of our borders.”
The action Biden announced on Tuesday allows the president to suspend asylum claims between ports of entry when there is an average of 2,500 crossings a day over a seven day period.
“I want to send Joe Biden’s illegal aliens back home where they belong,” Trump said. “They have to go back home because quite simply, Joe Biden wants an invasion. I want a deportation. I want a deportation. On day one, I will seal the border. I will stop the invasion and we will begin the largest domestic deportation operation in the history.”
Biden hit back at Trump on Thursday in an interview with ABC’s David Muir, asking Biden to respond to Trump calling his executive action “weak and pathetic.”
“Is he describing himself,” Biden said. “Come on, look, everybody knows what’s happened. We had a deal, it was much broader than this, much better, much more accepted across the board, and he got on the phone and told the Republicans, don’t support it. It will hurt me, it will help Biden.”
After Trump’s rally, Biden’s campaign released a statement accusing Trump of undermining attempts to pass legislation aimed at increasing border security, saying that he’s “in it for himself, not you.”
Earlier this year, Trump tanked a bipartisan border deal, stating in a Truth Social post, “A bad border deal is far worse than no border deal.”
Trump’s town hall on Thursday was his first appearance in a battleground state since he was convicted of felony crimes last month, and he spent the majority of his speech focused on the border. Immigration remains a big issue in Arizona and last month, a poll found that a majority of survey respondents said the state needs immigration reform and solutions to issues at the U.S.-Mexico border.
In November, Arizona voters will decide the fate of whether local police officers could have the power to arrest and jail undocumented immigrants. The ballot measure was first passed as a bill in Arizona’s Republican-controlled state legislature but Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed the bill in March. By leaving the decision up to voters, Republicans in the state hope it will increase conservative voter turnout in a swing state that is seen as crucial in the presidential race.
On Thursday, Trump vowed to “rescue the state of Arizona” by winning the election in November.
“We’re going to win the great state of Arizona,” Trump said. “Arizona, it’s so sad to see what’s happened here right? We will rescue the state of Arizona. We will make America great again.”
