Trump's rhetoric against immigrants and Harris escalates: 'Monsters' and 'mentally damaged'

(Patria) - Donald Trump on Saturday delivered some of his sharpest rhetoric against immigrants who have crossed the border illegally and committed crimes, particularly against young women, while also escalating insults against US Vice President and his election rival Kamala Harris.

In the state of Wisconsin, Trump called Harris, who visited the US-Mexico border for the first time in her campaign on Friday, "mentally damaged" and "mentally unfit".

Posters of illegal immigrants in the United States who have been arrested for murders and other crimes stood next to the Republican presidential candidate, with banners reading "End Migrant Crime" and "Deport Illegals Now", Reuters reported.

His speech was almost entirely dedicated to undocumented immigrants. He called those who committed violent crimes "monsters", "cold-blooded killers", and "vile animals".

Trump is in a tight race with Harris ahead of the November 5 elections. According to opinion polls, immigration and the southern border are among the main issues for voters.

Trump blamed Harris and President Joe Biden for letting undocumented immigrants into the US, accusing some migrants of wanting to "rape, rob, steal, pillage, and kill the people of the United States." At one point, Trump said: "This is a dark speech." Trump's speech was delivered in the small town of Prairie du Chien, where a Venezuelan who was in the country illegally was arrested in September for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman and attacking her daughter.

About seven million migrants have been arrested crossing the US-Mexico border illegally during the Biden administration, according to government data, a record high that has fueled criticism of Harris and Biden by Trump and Republicans.

During a visit to the border on Friday, Harris unveiled a plan to fix "our broken immigration system" and accused Trump of "fanning the flames of fear and division" over the impact of immigrants on American life.

She called for stricter asylum limits and pledged to make stopping fentanyl from entering the US a "top priority".

Trump also repeated his false claim that his 2020 election defeat to Biden was fraudulent. If re-elected and "if allowed", Trump said he would then prosecute the people he blames for his loss.

Studies generally find no evidence that immigrants commit crimes at a higher rate than the US population, and critics say Trump's rhetoric amplifies racist tropes. Trump typically focuses on young women allegedly murdered by Latino attackers to send a message, avoiding cases involving male victims. Opponents accuse him of cynically exploiting grieving families to fuel his narrative that arrivals born abroad, often Hispanic, are part of an invading army.

However, some of the victims' families have welcomed Trump's focus on the issue of violent crime and the number of teenage deaths caused by the opioid drug fentanyl, much of which enters the US via the southern border. Several parents who lost children to illegal immigrant attacks or fentanyl spoke in his support before Trump's statements on Saturday.