Trump in PA gathers crowds on election night

Personnel reports
| USA Today Network

Donald Trump continued to lean heavily on his anti-immigrant rhetoric at a rally in Reading on the eve of Election Day, telling supporters that Kamala Harris has “eliminated” the southern border.

“They’re taking over your cities, your schools, your hospitals,” Trump said, referring to migrants.

He later added: “The United States is now an occupied country, but it will soon cease to be an occupied country.”

Trump and Harris stormed Pennsylvania on Monday in the latest polls, but they were in a dead heat for the critical swing state and its 19 electoral votes. Both had meetings scheduled in Pittsburgh, and Harris spoke with them supporters in nearby Allentownand would end the day with a concert in Philadelphia.

Immigration remains central to Trump’s message to voters.

Illegal border crossings under President Joe Biden reached record heightson average more than 2 million per year from 2021 to 2023, according to Customs and Border Protection. But recently, illegal border crossings – or “encounters” – have spiked at the southern border lowest total in almost four years just months after Biden announced this broad restrictions on asylum.

Trump also claimed that migrant crime is “as brutal as it has ever been.” But data analyzed between 2012 and 2022 found that undocumented immigrants have a murder conviction rate that is 14% lower than that of native-born Americans. Immigrants have a 62% lower murder rate and undocumented immigrants have a 41% lower total criminal conviction rate than native-born Americans.

Trump also claimed during the Reading rally that Harris “copied” his Saturday Night Live routine after her came on the show just three days before the Nov. 5 election.

“She uses everything I do. They use… they even copied Saturday Night Live. They copied. Think about that. Saturday, oh she did great – they copied my routine, I did it a long time ago, they copied the same routine. I think I actually did better. I don’t think… I think anyone could have done it. I think everyone could have done better,” Trump said.

During the show, comedian Maya Rudolph, who played Harris, said spoke to the real one Harris through an empty makeup mirror. The two wore a similar suit and necklace, and Harris gave Rudolph campaign advice.

In 2015 on ‘The Tonight Show’, Trump and comedian Jimmy Fallon did something similar. Fallon portrayed Trump, who spoke to the real Republican presidential candidate through a makeup mirror. Both also wore matching suits.