Trump woos Hispanic vote, meets Harris at border during New Mexico visit | Local News

Trump, wearing a black suit and a black “Make America Great Again” cap with gold lettering, predicted he could win New Mexico, which has not elected a Republican presidential candidate since 2004, in Tuesday's election.

“They took your money, opened your borders, let criminals and terrorists pour into your cities with deadly drugs and death, gave your jobs to illegal immigrants, and sent our blood and treasure to fight stupid foreign wars in countries where you live.” “I’ve never heard of that,” he said, referring to the Democrats.

“This Tuesday is your chance to stand up and declare that you will no longer accept it,” he said, drawing applause.

Trump falsely claimed he “almost” won New Mexico twice, when in fact he lost by about 8 percentage points in 2016 and by about 11 percentage points in 2020.

“Let me tell you, I think we won twice, okay, if you want to know the truth,” said Trump, who has repeatedly questioned the results and integrity of the 2020 election.

The Republican candidate's visit just five days before the election sparked immediate criticism from the state's top Democrats, including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a surrogate for Democratic presidential candidate Harris.

“Donald Trump’s rambling and incoherent speech today clearly demonstrated why New Mexicans rejected his candidacy twice and why we will do so again on Tuesday,” the governor said in a statement.

“The New Mexicans reject Donald Trump's anger, division, lies and chaos and support Kamala Harris' vision of a new path forward with a clear-sighted, effective plan to improve the lives of all Americans,” Lujan Grisham added.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, called Trump a crybaby.

“On these nights of Halloween and Day of the Dead“Don’t worry about La Llorona,” he wrote, referring to the mythical mother who drowned her children. “But beware of El Llorón.”

In a statement, Martínez said New Mexicans value honesty.

“We know he cares more about his rich friends, personal grievances and crowd size than we do,” Martínez said of Trump.

While Trump touted his candidacy during the rally, he also urged voters to support Nella Domenici, who is running against Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, and Yvette Herrell, who is running to fill the freshman 2nd Congressional District seat to regain democratic US representatives. Gabe Vasquez.

“Congratulations, I hear you're doing very well, Nella,” Trump said. “Go out and vote for Nella.”

Trump enthusiastically supported Herrell.

“Congress is always looking for good people, and we have someone great – where's Yvette?” he said.

Trump's speech, which lasted nearly an hour and a half, focused heavily on the border.

“You let millions of people come to your state,” he said. “You are ruining your state.”

To illustrate the risk, Trump told the grisly story of a beheading in Las Cruces in 2021, saying the suspect was an undocumented immigrant who “threw his victim's head around like a soccer ball in a public park.” The head, Trump said, was found 30 feet from the body.

While the crime described by Trump did occur, the claim that an undocumented immigrant was responsible was false. Murder defendant Joel Arciniega-Saenz was born in Las Cruces, KOAT-TV reported in 2022, citing court documents and a copy of his birth certificate.

The claim that Arciniega-Saenz is an undocumented immigrant appears to have started with a false story on the right-wing website Breitbart, which quotes an unnamed Immigration and Customs Enforcement official who “appears to have confirmed,” as Breitbart said it expressed that he was undocumented. Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Ronchetti ran a commercial in 2022 repeating the claim, but removed it from the ad when he learned the truth, KOAT reported at the time.

Ernest Garcia, 66, of Mora, said he stands in solidarity with Trump in stemming the flow of illegal immigration.

“What I don’t like about (President Joe) Biden and Harris’ policies is that they provide shelter, they give them food stamps, they provide them with a cell phone,” he said. “My mother doesn’t even get half of it. She is on welfare.”

Garcia claimed the Biden administration was taking care of undocumented immigrants while leaving victims of the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon fire in northern New Mexico to dry.

“I believe that (Trump) will fix everything that has been broken over the last three years,” said Garcia’s wife, Olivia Aragon, also 66.

“It’s time for a change,” she added.

New Mexico Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce said New Mexico is a good place to advocate for a porous border.

“The people of New Mexico are just as afraid of the people they meet as anyone else,” he said after the rally. “I mean, there are scared people out there, and he says, 'Yeah, we want people to come here, let's just make it legal.' I think that sums it up.”

Trump repeatedly criticized “fake news” and accused members of the media of failing to aim their cameras to show viewers the size of the crowd that had gathered for his Duke City rally.

Liz Clawson, who is from Navajo, New Mexico, but now lives in Utah and decided to attend the rally while visiting the state on business, said she did not support Trump's criticism.

“However, I support many of Trump’s policies and leadership styles,” said Clawson, who wore a T-shirt that read “yeego Trump,” which she said means “with all your might” in Navajo.

“Since my children recently left the nest, they are faced with the challenge of finding affordable housing,” Clawson, 51, added. “I would like to see Trump take control of the economy again.”

Trump said his opponents had called his supporters “racists, bigots, fascists, Nazis, deplorables, irredeemables” and him Hitler.

“They demonized us. They censored us. “They have disempowered us and used the power of the government as a weapon against their political opponent, me,” he said. “I was investigated more than Alphonse Capone.”

Trump, who took the stage about 30 minutes after the scheduled 12 p.m. start time, accused Harris of lying about his views on Social Security and other issues and noted that she called him a fascist.

“She’s worse than corrupt Hillary,” he said, referring to Hillary Clinton. “At least Hillary was intelligent.”

Trump claimed Hispanics “love” him.

“You’re smart,” he said. “You are much smarter than the person running for president on the Democratic side. … They’re smart, they’re entrepreneurial as hell. They work their asses off, it's true. They don’t want to get anything for free.” . They just want a fair, beautiful and balanced table, and that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”

Trump, who said he would win New Mexico because of the border, called for the death penalty for any migrant who kills an American citizen or law enforcement officer and vowed to “end sanctuary cities.”

He also warned Harris not to stop oil production.

“If Kamala is elected, New Mexico’s economy will be reduced to rubble,” he said.

Nathan Brown from The new Mexican contributed to this report.