Former President Donald J. Trump said in an address to an evangelical group that he had proposed creating a sports league in which migrants could compete against each other.
Appearing at the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference in Washington on Saturday, Mr. Trump described migrants in the dehumanizing terms he often uses to describe them. He said they were “tough,” “came from prisons,” and were “evil, mean.”
Mr. Trump then said he suggested to Dana White, an ally of the former president and chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, “Why don’t you start a migrant league of fighters?”
He continued, referring to the UFC: “And then you have the champion of your league – these are the greatest fighters in the world – fighting the migrant champion? I think the migrant might win! That’s how hard they are.”
Mr. Trump said that Mr. White “didn’t particularly like the idea.” But he added: “It’s not the worst idea I’ve ever had. “These are tough people.”
Mr. White, asked about Mr. Trump’s comment at a UFC event on Saturday, confirmed that the former president had made the suggestion but said: “It was a joke, it was a joke. “I’ve seen everyone do it have gone crazy online. But yes, he said it.”
The Biden campaign condemned Mr. Trump’s comments and attacked what it called a “rambling, confused tirade” at what it said was intended to be a “Christian values conference.”
“Trump’s incoherent, unhinged tirade showed voters in his own words that he is a threat to our freedoms and is too dangerous to be allowed anywhere near the White House again,” said Sarafina Chitika, a Biden campaign spokeswoman said in a statement.
Mr. Trump has made immigration a central part of his platform in the 2024 presidential election, as he has in his two previous campaigns. He has pledged to carry out widespread raids and use military money to set up camps for undocumented detainees. He has also escalated his anti-migrant rhetoric, at times using language that invokes Hitler’s racial hatred by describing migrants as “poisoning the blood of our country.”
“Fantasies about cage fighting distract from the very real plans Trump and his team are making to deport millions of people who have lived here for decades and the inflation, unemployment and economic devastation that will result,” said Douglas G. Rivlin, a spokesman for America’s Voice, an immigrant rights advocacy group that has tracked the escalation in Republican rhetoric on the issue. “Republican politicians will have a hard time defending this in the election campaign this year.”
Jazmine Ulloa contributed reporting.
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2024-06-23 15:00:49
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