LAS VEGAS (AP) — Just minutes after Donald Trump issued his usual warnings about drug dealers and criminals crossing the border illegally during a campaign rally Saturday, the former president heard from someone who was once in the country illegally but is now intends to vote for him.
Elias Trujillo was one of several people who spoke at a Latino roundtable in Las Vegas on Saturday to highlight Trump’s economic ideas. After Trump finished speaking to a compact crowd in the warehouse of a women’s cosmetics company, members of the round table spoke. Trujillo began by sharing his personal story of how his mother brought him and his brothers from northern Mexico to Utah in 1995 to return to their father, who worked in construction.
“We came here legally, but you know, we overstayed and were able to have a life here in the United States,” Trujillo said, referring to the measure to enter the United States on a legal visa but not leave , when this visa expires.
At least one person in the audience began laughing and applauding, causing Trujillo to laugh and admit, “It’s funny.” Trump smiled as he looked at Trujillo.
The moment highlighted how contradictory facts and rhetoric on immigration play a role in the election campaign. The paradoxes are all the sharper because at the same time that Trump was counting on increasing Latino support for his return to the White House, he focused his campaign on a bleak view of immigration.
Trump said migrants are “poisoning the blood of the country,” called the recent influx across the southern border an “invasion” and vowed to begin mass deportations when he returns to the White House.
The day before his roundtable in Las Vegas, Trump was in Aurora, Colorado, and issued dire warnings that a Venezuelan gang was terrorizing a city of 400,000 that has become a magnet for migrants from that country. The city’s Republican mayor said Trump was distorting an isolated problem in the city.
On Saturday, Trump offered his usual criticism of border policy before turning to general praise for the demographic he was courting.
“Hispanic people – they say you can’t generalize, but I think you can – they have a wonderful entrepreneurial spirit and they have – oh, do you have that kind of energy? Just calm down a little, okay? “Calm down,” Trump said. “You have great ambition, you have great energy, you are very smart and you really do, you are real entrepreneurs.”
After the Las Vegas incident, Trump traveled to Coachella, California, and accused Harris of “importing an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from Third World dungeons.” There is no evidence to support Trump’s claims.
Since 2016, when he launched his first campaign by warning about “rapists” crossing the southern border, Trump has typically smoothed over any apparent conflict between his warnings on immigration and his support among Latino voters. Many Hispanic voters entered the country legally — or have roots in the U.S. for generations — and oppose illegal immigration.
The former president and Republican nominee has argued that his economic and immigration policies would facilitate Latinos and other minorities, often suggesting, contrary to economic data, that immigrants are taking what he calls “black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs.” About 8 in 10 Hispanic voters say the economy is “one of the most important issues” this election season, according to a recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Opinion Research.
Overall, Hispanic voters are about equally likely to have positive views of Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic opponent. Trujillo said during his speech that he was initially suspicious of Trump but has since grown to support the former president.
Trujillo described how his lack of legal status left him unsure of what he could accomplish, but that he “had to make the most of my life.” He said he graduated from high school, got married and had two children, now 12 and 5 years aged.
He opened a restaurant that he said was struggling because of the high cost of labor and goods and said he was confident Trump would usher in better economic times.
“I’m excited about the opportunity that Trump has again to run and hopefully get us back on the right track,” Trujillo said. “I think there’s room to make America greater.”
Afterwards, Trujillo said in an interview that although his parents had overstayed their visas, they had been granted legal status. Trujillo has also been a US citizen since 2011.
He said he has come to understand Trump’s vocal opposition to those entering the country illegally because of concerns about drug and sex trafficking.
But unprompted, Trujillo said he supports a way for people who are in the country illegally to gain legal status, especially for people who have worked and obeyed the law.
“I mean, maybe not an easy path,” he said. “But there should be a path for those who are already here illegally but have created a life.”
This proposal has been a hallmark of immigration reform policy for decades. The opposition to naturalization of people living in the country illegally, dubbed “amnesty” by immigration hardliners, was part of what led to Trump’s political rise.
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Riccardi reported from Denver.
