Trump to visit town at centre of false ‘pet-eating’ allegations

AFP | Washington

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Donald Trump told a boisterous rally Wednesday he will visit the US town beset by racial tensions ever since his campaign began promoting false allegations that immigrants there were eating people’s pets. The Republican presidential nominee told supporters that he would visit Springfield, Ohio, “in the next two weeks.” “I’m going to Springfield and I’m going to Aurora,” he added, referring to the Denver suburb in Colorado where Trump has repeatedly claimed that Venezuelan gang members have violently taken over an apartment complex.

“You may never see me again but that’s OK,” he said, as the crowd laughed. Trump announced in a speech on New York’s Long Island that was filled with relentless attacks on illegal immigrants, describing them as “animals,” terrorists, criminals and gang members who are destroying Americans’ way of life.

Such hardline rhetoric has become a centrepiece of his election campaign against Kamala Harris, as he seeks to paint the Democratic US vice president as soft on immigration and responsible for allowing millions of people into the United States illegally under her watch. “We have massive numbers of terrorists coming in to our country,” he said, one of several unfounded comments about immigrants he made during a rambling speech in a sports arena.

“We’re going to take those violent people and we’re going to ship them back to their country, and if they come back in, they’re going to pay a hell of a price.” Harris, speaking to a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute meeting, said that as president she would work to “ensure our border is secure” while also protecting young undocumented migrants through government programs.