WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Vice President on Wednesday criticized Republican 's promise to deport millions of people who are in the United States illegally, questioning whether he would rely on massive raids and detention camps to carry it out.
Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute鈥檚 annual leadership conference that the nation can find both a pathway to citizenship for those who want to come and at the same time secure the border.
鈥淲e can do both, and we must do both,鈥� she said.
Trump, for his part, leaned heavily on his alarmist message on immigration as he held a rally in Uniondale on New York's Long Island, focusing the bulk of his remarks on the subject.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just destroying the fabric of life in our country. And we鈥檙e not going to take it any longer. And you got to get rid of these people. Give me a shot," Trump said.
Both candidates took a break Wednesday from campaigning in the toss-up states that will likely decide the Nov. 5 election. The former president drew a large, roaring crowd, giving him a chance to show deep support even in a blue state.
He ripped into Democratic leadership in New York City and state, blaming them for homeless people living in what he called 鈥渉orrible, disgusting, dangerous, filthy encampments,鈥� and even the conditions on the New York City subway, which he called "squalid and unsafe鈥� and promised to renovate.
鈥淲hat the hell do you have to lose?" he said in asking for their votes.
Before heading out to the suburbs, Trump stopped at a Bitcoin cafe in New York City. Trump has recently embraced cryptocurrency and on Monday night helped launch his family's
Harris harked back to the Trump administration's immigration policies as she bid for Hispanic support.
鈥淲hile we fight to move our nation forward to a brighter future, Donald Trump and his extremist allies will keep trying to pull us backward,鈥� Harris said. 鈥淲e all remember what they did to tear families apart, and now they have pledged to carry out the largest deportation, a mass deportation, in American history.鈥�
鈥淚magine what that would look like and what that would be? How鈥檚 that going to happen? Massive raids? Massive detention camps? What are they talking about?鈥� she said.
Trump has promised to carry out 鈥渢he largest deportation operation in the history of our country鈥� if he's elected in November. He has offered no details on how such an operation would work.
Trump has focused on immigration as a top campaign issue and made it a key focus of his remarks Wednesday.
鈥淟ook at what's happening,鈥� he told his crowd in New York. "Businesses that are fleeing, money draining out of your state and hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants sucking your public resources dry.鈥�
Trump said he plans in the next two weeks to visit Springfield, Ohio, which has been the center of from the former president and his running mate JD Vance that members of the city鈥檚 Haitian community are abducting and eating cats and dogs. Trump also said he plans to visit where he says a Venezuelan street gang with a small presence in the city has taken over a rundown apartment complex. Aurora police say that鈥檚 not the case.
He has an advantage over Harris in opinion polling on whom voters trust to better handle the issue.
Meanwhile, the declined to endorse either Harris or Trump, saying neither had sufficient support from its 1.3 million members.
Harris had met Monday with a panel of Teamsters, having long courted organized labor and made support for the middle class her central policy goal. Trump met earlier in the year with a panel of Teamsters, and its president, Sean O鈥橞rien, spoke at his invitation at the Republican National Convention.
Trump's rally Wednesday night was in Uniondale, an area that could be key to Republicans . His party is trying to protect 18 Republicans in Democratic-heavy congressional districts that Joe Biden carried in 2020, particularly in coastal New York and California, and going on offense to challenge Democrats elsewhere.
Long Island in particular features one of the most , between first-term Republican Rep. Anthony D鈥橢sposito and Democrat Laura Gillen. D鈥橢sposito is a former New York Police detective who won in 2022 in a district that Biden won by about 15 percentage points in 2020.
Trump posted Tuesday on his Truth Social platform that the GOP has 鈥渁 real chance of winning鈥� New York 鈥渇or the first time in many decades." In that same post, Trump also pledged that he would 鈥済et SALT back,鈥� suggesting he would eliminate a cap on state and local tax deductions that were part of tax cut legislation he signed into law in 2017.
The so-called SALT cap has for many residents of New York, New Jersey, California and other high-cost, high-tax states, and is an important campaign issue in those states, particularly among those New York Republicans serving in districts Biden won.
Harris' speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute marked the second day in a row that she has tended to constituencies considered key to the Democratic Party.
On Tuesday, she with members of the National Association of Black Journalists. She decried Trump鈥檚 rhetoric and said voters should make sure he 鈥渃an鈥檛 have that microphone again.鈥� She has trips planned later in the week to Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin.
Trump is attempting to return to his campaign cadence after Sunday's as he golfed in Florida. On Tuesday, he , and has not appeared to alter plans for upcoming trips to the nation's capital and North Carolina later in the week.
His running mate, Ohio Sen. , held an event in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday.
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Meg Kinnard can be reached at
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Kinnard reported from Houston and Colvin reported from Uniondale, New York. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Washington and Michelle L. Price in New York contributed to this report.
Meg Kinnard, Aamer Madhani And Jill Colvin, The Associated Press
