Trump: Biden is 'opening floodgates to a tidal wave of immigration'
Trump accuses Biden of ‘opening the floodgates to a tidal wave of immigration’ by dropping Title 42 and called for Republicans to fire Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas if they retake Congress
- Donald Trump appeared in Selma, North Carolina, on Saturday night
- He was there to boost the campaign of Rep. Ted Budd, who is running for Senate
- In his speech he attacked the Biden administration’s handling of immigration
- He said the decision to drop Title 42 will lead to a ‘tidal wave of immigration’
- Trump also for ‘illegal aliens’ to be ‘quickly removed’ and urged Republicans to fire Mayorkas if they take back control of the House in November 2022
Former President Donald Trump used a campaign-style rally on Saturday to accuse President Joe Biden of ‘opening the floodgates’ to immigrants by lifting Title 42 restrictions on border entry.
He appeared before several thousand supporters in Selma, North Carolina as part of his effort to boost favored candidates in November’s midterms.
His speech was a greatest hits collection of themes – the witch hunt against him, President Joe Biden’s failing as president, and his unsubstantiated claims he won the 2020 election.
And with the number of migrants arriving at the southern border surging, he attacked Biden’s handling of immigration and in particular the decision to end a public health restriction that has been used to quickly expel people entering illegally.
‘With last week’s announcement that the Biden administration will rescind the crucial Title 42 protections I put into place to quickly remove illegal aliens … Biden is willfully opening the floodgates to a tidal wave of illegal immigration the likes of which the world has never seen before,’ he said.
The Title 42 order was imposed in March 2020 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as part of the pandemic response. It allowed border officials to quickly expel migrants without giving them a chance to apply for asylum as part of an effort to control the spread of COVID-19.
The CDC is due to lift the order on May 23, triggering a political fight amid fears that it could trigger a wave of new arrivals.
Former President Donald Trump appeared before supporters in Selma, North Carolina, on Saturday evening to lift the campaigns of Republicans in the state
Former President Donald Trump will use a campaign-style rally on Saturday to accuse President Joe Biden of ‘opening the floodgates’ to immigrants by lifting Title 42 restrictions on border entry. He will also call on Republicans to fire Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (right) if they retake Congress in the November midterms
About 5000 people turned out to hear Trump endorse candidates in North Carolina
With the issue one of the keys to midterm battlegrounds, majored on the issue during his one-hour speech.
‘To every would-be illegal alien currently thinking of rushing America’s borders because of Joe Biden’s actions, hear these words: if you enter America illegally, you can rest assured that when Republicans retake power, we will hire thousands of new ICE agents to reverse this injustice, we will find you, we will detain you, we will deport you, and you will never be allowed to enter our country ever again,’ he said.
And he demanded that a Republican-controlled Congress to remove Biden’s Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for failing to ‘seal’ the southern border.
At the same time, Trump unveiled his long-awaited endorsement in the Pennsylvania Senate race, opting for TV surgeon Dr. Oz.
‘Great guy, good man,’ he told the crowd. ‘Harvard educated, tremendous, tremendous career.’
His 18 years in TV, he said, were a sign of popularity – like winning an opinion poll.
The Trump endorsement could break a deadlock in the Pennsylvania race.
Oz has been neck and neck with David McCormick, a former hedge fund chief executive, and both had visited Trump in Mar-a-Lago as they vied for the backing of the most powerful voice in the Republican Party.
Trump offered warm words for Ted Budd, a three-term congressman running for U.S. Senate
He reeled off a list of political priorities, from protecting the Second amendment to ‘leading humanity back to the moon’ and ‘we will not by the way, have men participating in women’s sports.’
He accused Biden of cramming billions of dollars into his latest budget for ‘transgenderism,’ before joking about transexuals in sport.
‘They think it’s politically incorrect to talk about it,’ he said.
‘There’s nothing politically incorrect about it. It’s going to destroy women’s sports.
‘I mean, if I’m a basketball coach, I guarantee I’m gonna have a great team.’
He also used the rally to boost the campaigns of several North Carolina runners including Ted Budd, a three-term congressman.
Trump introduced him as the candidate who would help end Democrats grip on the Senate.
‘The man who is going to help end Chuck Schumer’s brief and failed tenure as Senate majority leader,’ he said.
His warm words came despite a recently resurfaced video in which Budd said Biden was the legitimate winner of the 2020 election, the sort of words that can quickly reverse a Trump endorsement.
Budd voted against certifying Biden’s victory last year but in a little noticed interview with the Associated Press he was asked whether the Democrat won fair and square.
‘He did. He’s the legitimate president,’ he said in September.
He is then asked whether he accepts that Trump got seven million fewer votes than the Democratic candidate.
‘I do,’ he said.
Trump has been using his endorsements to punish Republicans who say he lost the 2020 election, backing their primary challengers, and will almost certainly use his rally in Selma, North Carolina, on Saturday to publicly berate them.
Since Biden took office in January 2021, CBP has encountered more than 2.2 million migrants and the border – and that number could as much as triple with the end of Title 42 next month
The Budd campaign said it was not worried about the comments and claimed it was being shopped around by allies of former U.S. Rep Mark Walker, currently polling third in the race, but who is chasing Trump’s affections.
‘President Donald Trump knows Ted Budd, Mark Walker, and Pat McCrory and he knows their records,’ said Jonathan Felts, senior adviser, Ted Budd for US Senate, listing the three frontrunners.
‘Their records are why President Trump didn’t hire Pat, didn’t endorse Walker, but did endorse Ted Budd.
‘Ted Budd has never wavered from the America First Agenda and President Donald Trump knows that.
‘Mark Walker is a delusional little man if he thinks President Donald Trump doesn’t know who the real America First Conservative Fighter is in this election.’
But the example of Brooks in Alabama may serve as a warning.
He had been a favorite of Trump’s after speaking at the rally on January 6 last year to oppose the election results, telling supporters ‘the fight begins today’ before they marched on the U.S. Capitol.
But he fell foul of the most powerful voice in the party after saying that it was time admit the 2020 election was lost and move on to the next campaign.
‘Mo Brooks was a leader on the 2020 Election Fraud and then, all of sudden, during the big rally in Alabama, he went ‘woke’ and decided to drop everything he stood for — when he did, the people of Alabama dropped him, and now I have done so also. The people get it, but unfortunately, Mo doesn’t,’ said Trump in a statement.
Donald Trump comes to North Carolina on Saturday to campaign for Ted Budd, who is running for Senate. At the same time video has emerged of Budd saying he believed Biden was the ‘legitimate president’ – the sort of comment that has cost candidates Trump’s endorsement
Trump announced he was endorsing Budd in June last year. The decision – backing a a rank-and-file member of Congress with little statewide name recognition – surprised many analysts
Rep. Mo Brooks spoke at the January 6 ‘Save America’ rally on the ellipse, which happened in advance of the MAGA crowd storming the U.S. Capitol
In North Carolina, the primary has been marked by bitter feuding.
Trump will bring his star power to town on Saturday evening, for a program that will feature Madison Cawthorn, the controversial congressman who is under fire for wild claims that Washington political life is full of cocaine-fuelled orgies.
In the Senate race, Budd won the surprise endorsement of Trump last year. The contest is seen as crucial to Republican hopes of securing the Senate.
He has pitched himself as a Trump loyalist – and was among the Republicans who voted not to certify Biden’s election last year – but struggled to gain traction in the polls, leading to questions about whether the former president regretted his decision.
Trump himself brought up the race at a Republican National Committee donor dinner in New Orleans last month.
‘How are we doing? How’s Ted Budd doing? OK?’ Trump asked North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley from the stage, according to audio obtained by Politico, before adding that he had to get one of the other candidates out of the race.
Since then Budd launched his first television ad which promotes his Trump endorsement and shows him walking the U.S.-Mexico border with a pistol on his belt.
A source familiar with Trump’s thinking said Budd had long been an ally of the former president – unlike Brooks who had once been known as a ‘never Trumper.’
‘It’s not a valid comparison,’ he said, adding that the video had been circulating in Republican circles for some time but not prompted a change of heart by Trump.
And after his shaky start a poll this week showed him stretching out to a double-digit lead over his closest rival former Gov. McCrory.
The result was warm words from Trump this week in a video trailer for his weekend trip.
Ted Budd began running his first primary election commercial statewide Wednesday, March 23, 2022, highlighting the congressman’s endorsement from former President Donald Trump and portraying himself as tough on illegal immigration
‘We’re supporting, as you know, Ted Budd. He’s running for the Senate.
‘He’s going to be a tremendous senator.
‘He’s taking the lead now very substantially in the polls and we’re gonna get him an even bigger lead.
But Ted Budd is a great conservative. He’s a great gentleman, a wonderful man and we look forward to seeing you Selma, Saturday night.
‘Don’t miss it.’
His poll numbers might just save him.
Some 36% of Republicans said they would vote for Budd in the May 17 primary election, according to poll published this week by Emerson College and The Hill.
The gives him a commanding lead over McCrory on 22 percent and former U.S. Rep Mark Walker on nine percent.
They are running for the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Richard Burr.
With such positive numbers, talk show host John Fredericks said there was no way Trump would go back on his endorsement.
‘Done deal,’ he said. ‘Budd is surging.’
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