The Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump claimed Thursday, without offering evidence, that immigrants from Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere are “creating an army” to attack Americans “from within.”

During a campaign rally in New York’s predominantly African-American and Hispanic South Bronx, Trump tried to present immigrants from China, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries as a dangerous threat; despite the fact that research has shown that immigrants are less likely to be involved in criminal activities.

“Almost all of them are men and appear to be of fighting age. I believe they are creating an army,” the former president said to a few thousand supporters who had gathered to hear him. “They want to attack us from within,” he added.

Throughout his campaign, Trump regularly used inflammatory language to accuse immigrants in the US illegally of being responsible for violent crimes, calling them “animals” who “poison the blood” of the country.

“We will not allow these people to come and take our city and take our country,” he stressed, while pledging to conduct “the largest criminal deportation operation in the history of our country” if re-elected to the presidency.

Trump has also sought to link the record number of undocumented immigrants apprehended at the US-Mexico border to the economic hardships of African-American and Hispanic voters, claiming, without physical evidence, that immigrants are stealing their jobs.

Trump poll rise

Polls show Trump in a neck-and-neck battle with US President Joe Biden, who is running for re-election, in the November 5 election.

The Bronx rally is part of the Republican effort to capitalize on Biden’s declining popularity among Hispanic and African-American voters.

About 55% of Bronx County residents are Hispanic and about a third are African American.

Recent polls show that Trump’s popularity among these two groups, which played a key role in Biden’s victory in 2020, is increasing.

For his part, the Democrat has undertaken a series of initiatives aimed at winning the support of African-American voters. In this context, he accuses Trump and other Republicans of attacking programs aimed at equality and inclusion, while yesterday a campaign advertisement of Biden began to be shown in which he criticizes the Republican former president for the way he treats African Americans.

A New York Times/Sienna College poll conducted in March found that 23 percent of African-Americans and 46 percent of Hispanics would vote for Trump if he faced off against Biden. This is significantly higher than the 12% of African-Americans and 32% of Hispanics who voted for Trump in 2020, according to an Edison Research exit poll.