Former President Donald Trump acknowledged Tuesday that reversing course on the Harris-Biden administration’s immigration policies will be a “very tough thing,” predicting that those against his deportation plan will resort to propaganda.
“We’ll get some and we’ll get them out and then they’ll get somebody else who has a nice look and a child – and that’ll be the poster. It’ll be, ‘Oh, how horrible,’” Trump told Atlanta rally-goers of how he expects his opponents to react to his Day One pledge to embark on “the largest deportation program in America.”
“It’s a very tough thing to fix, but we’re going to fix it because we have no choice,” the former president added.
Trump, 78, told voters in Georgia that he plans to “start with these horrible criminals,” highlighting the case of Laken Riley, who was allegedly killed in the Peach State by a suspected Venezuelan migrant gang member in February.
“Laken was a brilliant young student, top in her class, going to be a great nurse – nursing student. Everybody admired her,” Trump said.
“She was killed viciously while out on a jog,” he added. “She was assaulted, beaten, and horrifically murdered by an illegal alien.”
“The savage monster that murdered Laken was let in and released into our country by Kamala Harris,” the former president argued. “He came in through open borders. Nobody even checked him.”
“I can’t believe how they allowed this country to become like this. It can’t go on like this.”
Trump, who has taken time on the campaign trail to meet with several family members of victims of migrant crime, including Riley’s mother, expressed that the level of pain inflicted on her is unimaginable.
“All of these parents … they’ll never be the same,” he said.
Riley’s savage killing is part of the reason Trump argued Tuesday that border policy is a “bigger thing than inflation” ahead of Election Day.
The GOP nominee acknowledged that mostpolling indicates the economy and inflation are more important issues to voters – but he made the case that because of migrant crime, immigration should be higher.
“Look, inflation and the economy are always big and they’re big – what they’ve done to our economy – but I really believe that the border and the illegal immigration and the 21 million people, many of them criminals, is a bigger thing,” he said.
Trump referenced shocking federal data showing more than 15,000 migrants living illegally in the US have been convicted or accused of homicide.
“They’re happily ensconced in Georgia,” he said of the migrant “killers” roaming the streets.
“They’re all over the country. And these are killers. These are people that will kill you quickly. They don’t need too much of an excuse,” Trump said.
Early voting in Georgia started on Tuesday.
Trump indicated that he’s been “hearing very good things” about the way the vote is going.
The state has 16 Electoral College votes up for grabs in November.
The latest RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Trump leading Harris in the Peach State by less than a percentage point.