Former President Donald Trump, speaking at a Fox News town hall, slammed Vice President Kamala Harris on immigration, claiming “she has jurisdiction over the border” as illegal immigration has surged to record levels in recent years.
“They want open borders,” Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity during a town hall event Wednesday night. “She wants open borders. Now all of a sudden she's saying she's closing the border. She was the border czar, whether you like it or not, even if you don't want to use that term. She was in charge of the border.”
“This is the worst border, not just in the history of this country, but in the history of the world. No country has ever had 21 million people come into the country in three years. That's never happened before. And of those 21 million people, many are out of prison, many are murderers, drug dealers, child traffickers.”
Trump continued, “By the way, traffickers of women — you know, trafficking of women is the biggest problem — they're trafficking women. They're now putting women into our Social Security accounts, into our Medicare. And just take a look at this. Last week, I said this would happen. And it's happening because these people are tougher than our criminals. Our criminals are good people in comparison.”
Polls show Trump exceeds 2020 approval rating among Hispanics on immigration
A split image shows former President Trump and Vice President Harris standing side by side. (Getty Images)
“More terrorists have entered the United States than in the last three years,” President Trump said.
“Maybe 50 years. Nothing like this has happened before. These people are really bad. They're really dangerous. What they've done to our country is destroy our country. We can't allow this to happen.”
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Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to union members surrounded by union leaders during a campaign event at Northwestern High School in Detroit, Michigan, on September 2, 2024. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“Most people don't realize how many countries are dumping their prisons and jails on the United States,” Trump said.
“They're emptying the psychiatric hospitals and psychiatric hospitals. They're emptying the sickest people and sending them all to the United States.”
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Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives to speak about national security during a campaign rally at the North Carolina Aviation Museum and Hall of Fame in Asheboro, North Carolina, 21 August 2024. (Peter Zai/AFP via Getty Images)
A recent Fox News poll found that immigration is the second most important issue for voters heading into the 2024 election, behind the economy.
Polls also show Trump leading Harris on immigration: 14 points in a Fox News poll, 16 points in a Marist College poll, 18 points in a Marquette University poll and 13 points in a Wall Street Journal poll, all conducted after Biden declined to run for reelection.
Fox News Digital's Remy Numa contributed to this report.
