Former President Donald Trump pledged Thursday to rescind President Joe Biden’s new border executive order on his first day in office while speaking at a town hall in Phoenix.
Dream City Church, where the campaign event sponsored by Turning Point Action took place, appeared filled to its capacity of nearly 4,000.
In fact, when the presumptive Republican presidential nominee took the stage, he said the organizers had to turn thousands of people away.
That seems likely: Not only were Dream City’s large parking lots full, but so was street parking in the entire area going perhaps a half-mile or more away.
Approximately an hour before the event, thousands of Trump supporters were still waiting outside in the 100-plus-degree heat hoping to get a seat.
Amazing support for Trump in Phoenix. People braving 100+ degree heat to get into the @TPAction_ event at Dream City Church.
Have spotted @JDVance1 and @ChairmanWhatley. pic.twitter.com/QighHaN55G
— Randy DeSoto (@RandyDeSoto) June 6, 2024
The former president took aim at Biden’s executive order on border security issued Tuesday.
“On day one of my administration, I will be rescinding crooked Joe’s outrageous executive order,” Trump said, adding that he “will terminate every single open borders policy of the Biden administration as soon as I take the oath of office.”
The crowd roared its approval.
Donald Trump: “On day 1 of my administration I will be rescinding crooked Joe’s rescinding outrageous Executive orders. I will terminate every single open border policy of the Biden administration as soon as I take the oath of office. It will happen the same day, I don’t need to… pic.twitter.com/QX2iMN73pQ
— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) June 6, 2024
Trump described the order as “pro-invasion, pro-child trafficking, pro-women trafficking, pro-human trafficking, pro-drug dealers, and in all, it’s really, they bring death and they bring destruction into our country.”
“It’s really pro-illegal immigration. … It doesn’t do anything. It makes it worse than what you have right now,” he said.
The former president argued that the border situation he took over from former President Barack Obama in 2016 “was beautiful by comparison” to what Biden has done to it.
He said the administration’s new border plan would allow approximately 2 million migrants to enter the country through the southern border.
Biden’s executive order calls for the border to shut down between the ports of entry when illegal crossings average 2,500 per day, which is the case right now.
But that maximum would still, in theory, permit 912,000 migrants per year to enter the U.S. illegally between ports of entry before the border could be shut down.
By comparison, that would be more than Trump’s worst year for illegal border crossings, which was approximately 852,000 in 2019, while the other three years the numbers ranged between 300,000 and 400,000.
Further, there are several exceptions to the 2,500-per-day rule, including migrants who have appointments for asylum claims made through U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s smartphone app. In that case, they are permitted to enter the United States through a port of entry.
The administration is processing about 1,500 migrants’ asylum claims a day at official ports through the app, according to Politico.
Do you support Trump’s border policies?
Other exceptions include “unaccompanied children, some victims of trafficking, migrants facing acute medical emergencies or imminent threats to their safety,” the outlet noted.
Trump asserted that “Joe Biden wants an invasion. I want a deportation. I want a deportation, because it’s not sustainable.”
“Joe Biden wants an invasion. I want a DEPORTATION.” — President Trump in Phoenix, AZ pic.twitter.com/M8X5zs7e8u
— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) June 6, 2024
“Biden’s order is not a border security plan, it’s a concession to the fact that he has lost control over our border, the former president said.
To further emphasize his commitment to shutting down the border, Trump made reference to former Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and then asked if he was at the event.
Discovering he was, the candidate invited the 91-year-old Arpaio to the stage, prompting the audience to break out in cheers.
Trump hugged him and said, “We had a real border with this guy. They were saying, ‘He’s too tough.’ Now they’re saying, ‘Where is Sheriff Joe?’”
Arpaio called Trump the “only hero I ever had in my life” and thanked him for calling his late wife, Ava, multiple times when she was fighting cancer. “I’ll never forget that,” Arpaio said. Ava died in 2021.
President Trump realized Sheriff Joe Arpaio is in the crowd and invites him on stage to say a few words:
SHERIFF JOE: “I told my wife, I finally found the only hero I ever had, and it’s [Trump].” pic.twitter.com/BWmGfvt7qy
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) June 6, 2024
Arpaio was among the first Arizona officials to endorse Trump during his 2016 presidential run.
During the town hall portion of Thursday’s event, the questioners asked primarily about three issues — border security, inflation/economy and crime — which mirrored national polling for the election.
The former president noted how consistent the voters’ concerns were, particularly regarding the border, inflation and the economy.
“We’re going to take care of it all,” he said. “We’re going to make America greater than ever before.”
