Trump blasts immigrants for taking jobs, as he courts Black voters in Detroit

DETROIT (AP) — Donald Trump blames immigrants for stealing jobs and government resources as he courts Black voters and hardcore conservatives in battleground Michigan.

“The people coming across the border — all those millions of people — they’re inflicting tremendous harm to our Black population and to our Hispanic population,” Trump tells a cheering crowd of thousands of conservative activists packed into a vast convention hall.

“They’re not human beings. They’re animals,” he says later in referencing members of violent immigrant gangs.

Few states may matter more in November than Michigan, which Biden carried by less than 3 percentage points four years ago. And few voting groups matter more to Democrats than African Americans, who made up the backbone of Biden’s political base in 2020. But now, less than five months before Election Day, Black voters are expressing modest signs of disappointment with the 81-year-old Democrat.

Trump, who turned 78 on Friday, is fighting to take advantage of his apparent opening.

He argues that the Black community “is being hurt” by immigrants in the country illegally.

“They’re invading your jobs,” he says.

Meanwhile, Democrats offer a competing perspective from afar.

“Donald Trump is so dangerous for Michigan and dangerous for America and dangerous for Black people,” says Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, who is African American. He calls it “offensive” for Trump to address the Turning Point conference, which was taking place at the same convention center that was “the epicenter of their steal the election effort.”

Trump argues he can pull in more Black voters due to his economic and border security message, and that his felony indictments make him more relatable.

At a church in Detroit on Saturday afternoon, Trump repeatedly vows to “bring back the auto industry” while also noting, “The crime is most rampant right here at African American communities.”