Fans of former President Donald Trump have responded to his recent statements, saying he still supports legal immigration.
Trump, 78, made the comments Thursday during a news conference in Bedminster, New Jersey, outside his Trump National Golf Club.
“Basically, we’re going to drill, baby drill, bring energy prices down, almost immediately, we’re going to close the border and get the bad ones out,” the Republican began. “And we’re going to let a lot of people in.”
More immigrants are needed, he said, “because [the US] need[s] more people – ‘especially AI is coming and stuff [these] different things.
“The farmers need it, everybody needs it,” the candidate said, before quickly specifying, “but we’re going to make sure they’re not murderers, drug dealers or the kind of people we’re getting in droves now.”
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Trump, 78, made the comments Thursday during a news conference in Bedminster, New Jersey, outside his Trump National Golf Club
The Internet is reacting to former President Donald Trump’s comments on Thursday in which he indicated he still supports legal immigration
While Trump’s statements certainly do not deviate from his long-standing policies, they did spark public outrage.
“Why is he suddenly talking like that?” one bystander wrote on Twitter, days after Trump told the platform’s CEO, Elon Musk, that he still wants to “close the border and stop the migrant invasion.”
“Then I won’t vote,” added another, apparently fed up with the influx of migrants in recent years.
“NO MORE IMMIGRATION – WE ARE FULL,” someone else said, as they all replied a reshared excerpt of the speech published later that day.
Some accused the presidential candidate of changing course, others of playing into the hands of the left.
Meanwhile, a heated battle against Kamala Harris continues to rage, prompting Trump to focus much of his speech on Thursday not just on immigration policy, but also on the economy.
Trump blamed the other candidate for the current state of affairs, but made it clear that he still supports immigration through the proper channels.
One commenter joked, “We need negative immigration!” while sharing a quote from the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, who described the recent wave of immigrants from around the world through South and Central America as “reverse colonization.”
While Trump’s comments were far from a departure from his long-standing policies, they sparked a public outcry, with many accusing the two-term president-elect of reversing his positions.
Another said: ‘No, we have enough people already, immigration must be stopped until we can deal with our own people.’
Someone else said: ‘Trump is echoing the arguments of the Silicon Valley tech giants who are concerned with open borders.’
“I am not in favor of legal immigration,” someone else said simply.
Another called the statement “a complete betrayal of the forgotten Americans who made the Trump revolution possible,” despite Trump having repeatedly stated that he only wants to stop some of the border crossings seen in recent years.
People who immigrate legally are welcome, he has said repeatedly. But those who do so under the pretense of seeking asylum are not.
This fact seemed to go unnoticed by those who spoke out against the ex-president. In his speech, he falsely claimed that “almost 100 percent of net job growth in the past year has gone to immigrants.”
He further claimed he had heard growth was “actually even higher, 100 percent,” in an attempt to criticize the improvements over the metrics under Harris and Biden.
He also said Harris was a better opponent for him than her predecessor, despite polls suggesting otherwise.
called the ruling “a complete betrayal of the forgotten Americans who made the Trump revolution possible,” despite Trump having stated several times that he only wants to stop a number of border crossings that have been seen in recent years
People who immigrate legally are welcome, he has said repeatedly, while those who do so under the pretext of seeking asylum are not welcome.
He also took on Harris’ recently announced running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, whom he accused of “putting tampons in boys’ bathrooms” in his state’s public schools.
In 2023, Walz signed a law requiring public schools to provide access to menstrual products in restrooms regularly used by students in grades 4 through 12. The legislation does not discriminate by gender, but states that menstrual products must be available to “all menstruating students.”
“He recently passed a bill for tampons in boys’ bathrooms,” Trump said of the directive that leaves placement of such products up to the individual school
“He wants tampons in boys’ bathrooms. It’s horrible.”
On the border, Trump said Harris — whom he previously accused of being Biden’s border czar — has let more than “20 million” illegal immigrants into the country.
Figures from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol show that there have been just 9.9 million immigration encounters during the Biden administration. That number jumps to 11.6 million if you include people who were not detained by border officials. Homeland Security estimates.
Trump spoke for nearly an hour before taking questions from reporters, after members of his team put up posters calling attention to “price increases since [Harris] entered.’
Another called the statement “a complete betrayal of the forgotten Americans who made the Trump revolution possible,” despite Trump having repeatedly stated that he only wants to stop some of the border crossings that have been seen in recent years.
The speech came three days after Trump, who recently returned to Twitter after a years-long absence due to inflammatory tweets, presented a list of “20 core pledges” aimed at “making America great again.”
These principles included: ‘Close the border and stop the invasion of migrants’ and ‘Carry out the largest deportation operation in American history’
It also promised to “end inflation” and “make America affordable again” – not to mention stopping “World War III.” [the restoration of] peace in Europe and the Middle East, and [to build a great iron dome missile defense shield over our entire country -all made in America.’
He did not announce any new policy proposals on Thursday.