Former President Donald Trump received a strong endorsement on Saturday during a campaign rally in Detroit, where he also called Joe Biden the “king of superpredators” on immigration issues.
The presumptive Republican presidential candidate spoke about the immigration crisis at a policy and awareness roundtable at 180 Church in downtown Detroit, engaging a mostly black audience.
“They’re coming to take your jobs. It’s terrible… Black communities are hurt the most by illegal immigration. They’re coming into your communities and they’re taking your jobs,” Trump told the crowd, drawing loud applause.
Detroit is not officially a sanctuary city, but it has been overwhelmed by an influx of immigrants, just as Chicago and New York City have been overwhelmed by them.
At the event, Trump launched the “Black Americans for Trump” coalition to rival a similar group the Biden-Harris campaign has poured millions of dollars into, and he cast the coalition as an attempt to garner support from voters he has historically treated unfairly.
Trump has argued that Biden poses a threat to Black Americans because of Biden’s role in drafting the 1994 crime bill that increased policing and incarceration.
“Now he’s walking around talking about the black vote. He’s the ‘King of the Super Predators,'” Trump said.
“He wrote the 1994 crime bill that you all talk about a lot, and I think most of you here know that, especially if you’re black.”
The crowds in Detroit gave Trump a warm welcome, especially as the former president promised to quell the immigration crisis.
Immigration has become a top issue for American voters, along with the struggling economy and public safety, according to the Pew Research Center.
President Trump spoke at Turning Point Action’s “People’s Conference” late Saturday, reiterating his commitment to securing the border. He told the crowd that he would be president. “We will thoroughly expel Islamic extremist terrorists from our country and remove them swiftly.”
“They’re coming in at levels nobody’s ever seen before and we’re going to pay a heavy price,” he said.
“On the first day of this new administration, we will launch the largest deportation operation in American history. We have no choice. This is not sustainable.” He added, The crowd erupted in applause and chants of “USA.”
“Black people don’t get free housing, free clothes, free medicine,” Michaela Montgomery of Atlanta, Georgia, told The Post. “These are things we get in exchange for not being punished for committing a crime. We just can’t afford that.”
Bishop Leon Benjamin, who was in attendance, agreed: “The black community is all about unity. Issues like these create a rift in that community.”
Republican Rep. John James, the only Black member of Congress representing Michigan, introduced Trump and told the crowd, “The way we make America great again is to make the black middle class strong again.”
“The way we move forward is to make sure we don’t lose the election. The way we don’t lose the election is to get both parties to listen,” he added.
Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson also galvanized the crowd, saying he wasn’t afraid of “people trying to write me off” for supporting Trump.
“People have a perception of Trump as a racist and a mean guy, but I know him and that’s not true,” Carson said to a standing ovation.
Detroit’s Terrence Williams perhaps summed it up best when he succinctly stated in The Washington Post, “Black people are Americans, and Americans first.”
