WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday criticized Republican Donald Trump’s pledge to deport millions of people who are in the United States illegally, questioning whether he would rely on mass raids and detention camps to to do.
Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, told the annual leadership conference of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute that the nation can find both a path to citizenship for those who want to come and at the same time secure the border.
Trump, for his part, held a rally on Long Island as both candidates took a break Wednesday from campaigning in the toss-up states that will likely decide the Nov. 5 election. The former president drew a roaring crowd, giving him an opportunity to show deep support even in a blue state.
He ripped into Democratic leadership in New York City and state, blaming them for the homeless living in what he called “horrible, disgusting, dangerous, dirty encampments,” as well as conditions in the New York subway. York City, which he called “sharks and sharks”. unsafe” and promised to renew.
“What the hell do you have to lose?” said to ask for their votes.
Former President Trump has promised to carry out “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country” if he is elected in November. He did not offer details on how such an operation would work.
Trump has embraced immigration as a major campaign issue and made it a key focus of his remarks on Wednesday.
“Look what’s happening,” he told his crowd in New York. “Fleeing businesses, money draining your state and hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants sucking your public resources dry.”
He has an edge over Harris in opinion polls on who voters trust to handle the issue better.
Trump’s rally Wednesday night was in Uniondale, an area that could be key for Republicans maintain control of the House. His party is trying to protect 18 Republicans in heavily Democratic congressional districts that Joe Biden carried in 2020, especially in coastal New York and California, and going on the offensive to challenge Democrats elsewhere.
Long Island in particular presents one of the most closely watched racesbetween first term Republican Anthony D’Esposito and Democrat Laura Gillen. D’Esposito is a former NYPD detective who won in 2022 in a district that Biden won by about 15 percentage points in 2020.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday that the GOP has “a real chance to win” New York “for the first time in decades.”
In the same post, Trump also promised that he would “get SALT back,” suggesting he would eliminate a cap on state and local tax deductions that were part of the tax cut legislation he signed into law in 2017.
The so-called SALT cap has led to bigger tax bills for many residents of New York, New Jersey, California and other high-cost, high-tax states, and it is an important issue of the campaign in those states, especially among those New York Republicans who serve in the districts that Biden has won
Trump is trying to get back to the pace of his campaign after Sunday apparent attempted murder while playing golf in Florida. On Tuesday, he traveled to Flint, Michiganand did not appear to change plans for upcoming trips to the nation’s capital and North Carolina later in the week.
His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vanceheld an event in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday.