Trump vows to visit city at center of immigration row, Harris takes polls

UNIONDALE: Donald Trump spoke out against illegal immigrants on Wednesday and promised to visit an Ohio city seething with racial tensions fueled by his campaign’s conspiracy theories as Kamala Harris courted minority voters and enjoyed a surge in the polls in key states.

The Republican former president, whose hard-line anti-immigration rhetoric has become a centerpiece of his campaign, told a raucous rally in Long Island, New York, that he would visit Springfield “in the next couple of weeks.”

Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, repeatedly falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants were eating residents’ pets in the Ohio city, where schools and government buildings faced bomb threats following their comments.

In harsh remarks Wednesday, Trump described illegal immigrants as “animals” and gang members who were destroying the American way of life.

“We will take these violent people and send them back to their country and if they come back, they will pay a hell of a price,” he warned.

With the candidates essentially tied in the polls less than seven weeks before Election Day, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced news that could sway the race. The central bank cut its key lending rate by half a percentage point, the first cut since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The move, which sharply lowers borrowing costs for Americans, was welcomed by Vice President Harris, who sought to highlight her and President Joe Biden’s economic record in her race against Trump.

He called it “welcome news for Americans who have borne the brunt of high prices,” while the Biden White House said the rate cut marked a “moment of progress” for the U.S. economy.

But in a potential setback for the Harris camp ahead of the Nov. 5 election, the influential Teamsters union announced it will not endorse a presidential candidate in 2024.

The group has supported Democrats in every presidential election since 2000.

The powerful union’s decision came minutes after Harris told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute of her commitment to working Americans.

“We have to put the middle class first. We have to put the working class first, understanding their dreams, their desires and their aspirations,” he told the group in Washington.