(CNN) — Former President Donald Trump said Thursday the US is “like a garbage can for the world” as he railed against illegal immigration at a campaign rally in Arizona. “We’re a dumping ground. We’re like a garbage can for the world.
That’s what’s happened,” Trump said at the event in Tempe, as he criticized the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the border. “Every time I come up and talk about what they’ve done to our country I get angry and angrier,” he continued. “First time I’ve ever said garbage can.
But you know what? It’s a very accurate description.” The remark, coming less than two weeks from Election Day, marks the latest escalation in Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric as he’s made border security central to his bid to return to the White House. Trump, who has used dehumanizing language to describe undocumented immigrants since his 2016 campaign , has sought to paint undocumented immigrants in broad strokes as murderers, people from “insane asylums,” and dangerous, while regularly saying on the campaign trail that there is an “invasion” taking place.
He has promised an immigration crackdown if reelected, saying earlier this year that he wants to deport 15 to 20 million people , drastically higher than the 1.5 million deportations during his presidency. He has also repeated unsubstantiated claims about Haitian immigrants eating the pets of residents in Springfield, Ohio, which were first fueled by his running mate, .