Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump linked illegal immigration and employment on Saturday, pledging to start deporting offenders as soon as he is sworn in should he become the White House’s next occupant.
Trump all the while courted the black vote, claiming that the shooting of basketball star Dwyane Wade’s cousin would make African-Americans support him, but the move instead triggered a firestorm of criticism.
“On day one, I am going to begin swiftly removing criminal illegal immigrants from this country — including removing the hundreds of thousands of criminal illegal immigrants that have been released into US communities under the [US President Barack] Obama-[Democratic US presidential candidate Hillary Rodham] Clinton administration,” Trump told supporters in Des Moines, Iowa.
Clinton served as US secretary of state during Obama’s first term in office. The next US president is to be sworn in on Jan. 20 next year.
“I am going to build a great border wall, institute nationwide e-verify, stop illegal immigrants from accessing welfare and entitlements and develop an exit-entry tracking system to ensure those who overstay their visas are quickly removed,” Trump said.
“If we don’t enforce visa expiration dates, then we have an open border. It’s as simple as that,” the billionaire real-estate magnate and former reality TV host said
“A vote for Trump is a vote to have a nation of laws, a vote for Clinton is a vote for open borders,” he added.
Details of Trump’s immigration policies remain scant. He rallied much of his primary support with a controversial hardline tone against illegal immigrants and his plan to build a wall on the Mexican border. Some of his advisers are reportedly urging him to tone down his signature policy priority.
Trump also made appeals to black voters, promising to help African-Americans find jobs.
When “an African-American citizen, or any citizen, loses their job to an illegal immigrant, the rights of that American citizen have been totally violated,” he said.
Hours before, Trump said on Twitter: “Dwayne [sic] Wade’s cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago,” initially misspelling the basketball player’s first name before correcting it later. “Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will VOTE TRUMP!”
He was referring to the shooting death on Friday of Nykea Aldridge during an exchange of gunfire between two men as she pushed a baby stroller in Chicago.
Trump’s comments unleashed a torrent of criticism spearheaded by actor Don Cheadle, who has starred in such films as Hotel Rwanda, denouncing the bombastic billionaire for trying to score political points on the back of a murder.
“He doesn’t give a fkk. More red meat to his alt-right troglodytes,” Cheadle said on Twitter, referring to an ultra-conservative movement largely seen as white supremacist and anti-Semitic.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese