Fans of former President Donald Trump have reacted to his recent statements by indicating that he still supports legal immigration.
Trump, 78, made the remarks Thursday at a news conference in Bedminster, New Jersey, outside his Trump National Golf Club.
“Basically, we’re going to drill, drill, lower energy prices almost immediately, close the border and get the bad guys out,” the Republican began. “And we’re going to let a lot of people in.”
More immigrants are needed, he said, “because (the U.S.) needs more people, especially artificial intelligence and all (these) different things.”
“Farmers need it, everybody needs it,” the candidate added, before quickly specifying, “but we’re going to make sure that they’re not murderers, homicides, drug dealers and the kind of people that we have in large part coming in right now.”
Scroll down to watch the video:
Trump, 78, made the remarks Thursday at a news conference in Bedminster, New Jersey, outside his Trump National Golf Club.
The Internet is reacting to former President Donald Trump’s remarks on Thursday indicating that he still supports legal immigration.
While Trump’s remarks were far from a departure from his past policies, they sparked a swift public outcry.
“Why is he suddenly talking like that?” one viewer wrote on Twitter, days after Trump told the platform’s CEO, Elon Musk, that he still wants to “seal the border and stop the immigration invasion.”
“Then I won’t vote,” added another, apparently fed up with the influx of immigrants seen in recent years.
‘NO MORE IMMIGRATION – WE ARE FULL’, said someone else, and everyone responded A fragment shared again from the speech published later that day.
Some accused the presidential hopeful of changing his stance, others of pandering to the left.
Meanwhile, an increasingly heated race against Kamala Harris continues to unfold, prompting Trump on Thursday to focus much of his speech not just on immigration policy but also on the economy.
Trump blamed the other candidate for the current situation, but made it clear that he still supports immigration through the proper channels.
To that, one commenter joked, “We need negative immigration!” while sharing a quote from the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh who called the recent wave of arrivals from around the world through South and Central America “reverse colonization.”
While far from a departure from any of his past policies, Trump’s remarks sparked a swift public outcry, with many accusing the two-term presidential hopeful of flip-flopping.
Another proclaimed: “No, we have enough people, we must stop immigration until we can deal with our own people.”
Someone else said: ‘Trump is echoing the arguments of Silicon Valley tech moguls who advocate open borders.’
“I do not support legal immigration,” another person simply said.
Another called the statement “a total betrayal of the forgotten Americans who made the Trump revolution possible,” even though Trump has stated several times that he only wants to stop some of the border crossings seen in recent years.
Those who immigrate legally are welcome, he has repeatedly said, but those who do so under the pretext of seeking asylum are not.
This fact went unnoticed by those who demonstrated against the former president, who falsely claimed in his speech that “virtually 100 percent of net job creation in the last year has gone to immigrants.”
He also said he had heard that growth was “actually above that number, 100 percent,” in an apparent attempt to criticize improvements in statistics seen under the Harris and Biden administrations.
He also said Harris was a more ideal opponent for him than her predecessor, despite shifting polls suggesting otherwise.
He called the statement “a total betrayal of the forgotten Americans who made the Trump revolution possible,” despite Trump stating several times that he only wants to stop some of the border crossings seen in recent years.
Those who immigrate legally are welcome, he has repeatedly said, while those who do so under the guise of seeking asylum are not.
He also took aim at Harris’ newly 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 bathrooms regularly used by students in grades four through 12. The legislation does not distinguish by gender, but states that menstrual products must be available to “all students who menstruate.”
“They recently passed a bill banning tampons from boys’ bathrooms,” Trump said of the directive that leaves the placement of such products up to each school.
“He wants tampons in the boys’ bathrooms. It’s terrible.”
On the border, Trump said Harris — whom he previously accused of being Biden’s border czar — has allowed more than “20 million” illegal immigrants into the country.
There have been only 9.9 million immigration encounters during the Biden administration, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data shows, a figure that rises to 11.6 million when those who were not apprehended by border officials are taken into account, Department of Homeland Security estimates.
Trump proceeded to speak for nearly an hour before taking questions from reporters, after members of his team put up signs calling attention to “price increases since (Harris) took office.”
Another called the statement “a total betrayal of the forgotten Americans who made the Trump revolution possible,” even though Trump has stated several times that he only wants to stop some of the border crossings seen in recent years.
The speech came three days after Trump, who was recently reinstated from Twitter after a year-long absence due to incendiary tweets, touted a list of “20 foundational promises” aimed at “making America great again.”
Among those principles were “Seal the border and stop the immigration invasion” and “Carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.”
He also promised to “end inflation” and “make America affordable again,” with no mention of ending “World War III, restoring peace in Europe and the Middle East, and building 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.