Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump yells "fight, fight, fight," during a campaign rally at Ed Fry Arena in Indiana, Pa., Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. The audience at Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, on Monday erupted in applause and chanted, “Send them back,” after the former president said some immigrants — who are in America with legal immigration status — will be deported if he beats Democratic rival Kamala Harris and wins back the White House in November.
Trump whipped up the crowd with his inflammatory claims that some states are being “inundated” with migrants and that some cities will “never be the same” because of it.
“Do you think Springfield will ever be the same?” the Republican nominee asked, referring to the Ohio city that’s become a focal point of the election following his and running mate JD Vance’s baseless claims that residents’ pets are being eaten by Haitian migrants, who are actually there with temporary legal protected status.
Trump: Do you think Springfield will ever be the same? You have to get them the hell out. You have to get them out.
Crowd: *chants send them back* pic.twitter.com/0QVkXCQ9si
“The fact is, and I’ll say it now, you have to get ’em the hell out. You have to get ’em out. I’m sorry. But get ’em out. Can’t have it. Can’t have it,” bellowed Trump.
Trump’s supporters lapped up the rhetoric.
“They’ve destroyed it,” Trump added, prompting members of the crowd to begin chanting, “Send them back.”
“It’s terrible, it’s terrible to say and it’s a tough thing to do,” Trump continued. “You know, you’re gonna take in some murderers and things, and you’ll put them on the planes and the buses, and you’re going to start doing it.”
Watch from the 3-hour, 49-minute mark here:
Trump has vowed to conduct the largest mass deportation campaign in American history.
Earlier this month, he posted about “remigration” on his Truth Social platform, referring to the concept, that’s become a European far-right talking point, that’s described by the Associated Press as “the chilling notion of returning immigrants to their native lands in what amounts to a soft-style ethnic cleansing.”
Former Barack Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau called the rally scene “some dark twisted bullshit.” Former MSNBC anchor Mehdi Hasan said Trump was essentially “calling for the ethnic cleansing of legal immigrants in the United States.”
Others slammed the chant as “sickening” and called Trump “sick.”
This is some dark, twisted bullshit.
Again: the immigrants in Springfield are there legally. They've made the city more prosperous. Most residents don't want them to leave. They don't want to send these families back to their possible death.
What most residents want is more… https://t.co/LK5MHx0Mv6
Trump calling for the ethnic cleansing of legal immigrants in the United States. https://t.co/MAC0H5sgpe
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) September 24, 2024This call and response at Trump rally marks a new level in racial hatred.
The Haitians are here legally.
The rally cries comes after GOP Governor of Ohio, GOP Mayor of Springfield and town's business leaders said the Haitians are vital to their growing economy and community. https://t.co/MqxpBi25gO
He is such a sick, depraved racist piece of trash.
All he does is prey on the fear and racism of morons—he pretends to hate the same people they do to rile them up with lies no matter how harmful they are to innocent people. https://t.co/a8cUb4Hipz
This is sickening. It’s the opposite of what this country should and can be. This hateful meat sack is an amplifier of enthusiastic cruelty. https://t.co/92Ed96QPcI
— Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) September 24, 2024
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