TRUMP TAKES TOUR TO BORDER
Warns of ‘ great danger’ from Mexico
Ever sure of himself, Donald Trump paid a visit to the Mexico border Thursday and predicted Hispanics would love him — “they already do” — because as president he would grab jobs back from overseas and give more opportunity to those who live in the U. S. legally.
“There’s great danger with the illegals,” the Republican presidential contender said. But he claimed a “great relationship” with Hispanics, even as Latino leaders have attacked him for painting Mexican immigrants as criminals.
“I’ll take jobs back from China, I’ll take jobs back from Japan,” Trump said. “The Hispanics are going to get those jobs, and they’re going to love Trump.”
The in- and- out border visit came as Trump continued to dominate attention in the GOP presidential race, to the growing exasperation of his rivals. Campaigning in Gorham, N. H., Jeb Bush offered a distinctly different message in the immigration debate — and spoke partly in Spanish.
“A Republican will never be elected president of the United States again unless we campaign like this,” Bush said, gesturing with open arms.
In visiting Laredo, Trump claimed he was putting himself in “great danger” by coming to the area across from the volatile Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo. But, he said, “I have to do it. I have to do it.”
As he spoke to reporters with his back to the out- of- sight Rio Grande, a huge stream of transport trucks inched peacefully from the Mexican side onto the World Trade Bridge and into Texas at a bustling commercial hub routinely visited by officials. Trump travelled in a massive police- escorted motorcade on roads closed for his entourage.
I’ll take jobs back from China, I’ll take jobs back from Japan. The Hispanics are going to get those jobs, and they’re going to love Trump.
A local border patrol union pulled out of events involving him.
Patrol agents had planned to accompany Trump to the border and hold a meeting with him, but cancelled after consultations with their national union, the National Border Patrol Council, said Hector Garza, president of Local 2455.
Trump stepped off his plane in Laredo and said the union members backed out because they were “petrified and they’re afraid of saying what’s happening” at the border.
Dozens of people were on hand, a mix of protesters and supporters. Some chanted “fuera,” telling him to get out; a supporter waved a sign, “no era insulto,” meaning his remarks about immigrants were not an insult.
On his claim about repatriating jobs, Trump has offered few specifics on the economic policies he would pursue if elected president.
In his announcement speech last month, he called for rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure and renegotiating foreign trade deals, but did not say how he would seek to recast those agreements.
In recent years, he has called for a hefty tax on imports, criticized North American and South Korean trade deals, and said Ford should be penalized for expanding operations in Mexico. Yet, paradoxically, he’s praised globalization for tearing down barriers to international markets.
His visit drew strong reaction from some residents of Laredo, which has an overwhelmingly Hispanic population. Pedro Omar Castillo, 72, suggested Trump needs the growing Hispanic vote to be successful. “But he’s not going to get it because of his words,” Castillo said. “He is a racist.”
But Karina Villalba, 26, said she appreciates Trump’s in- your- face tone. “Sometimes honesty hurts,” she said.