Trump to Speak on Immigration Thursday in Election’s Home Stretch

Nov 01 2018, 2:53 PMNov 01 2018, 5:30 PMNovember 01 2018, 2:53 PMNovember 01 2018, 5:30 PM

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump will deliver remarks on immigration from the White House this afternoon as the president seeks to rev up his most enthusiastic supporters with a focus on fears of illegal border crossings heading into next week’s congressional elections.

He is escalating his rhetoric and proposals on immigration as he seeks to turn the national conversation to the topic and away from the massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue and a series of mail-bombing attempts against his critics, which he has blamed for blunting Republican political momentum before the Nov. 6 vote. Trump’s political team believes illegal immigration is among the top issues for his supporters.

Trump will speak about “the illegal immigration crisis and give an update on border security” at 4:15 p.m. Washington time, according to White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Trump said Wednesday he may order as many as 15,000 U.S. troops to the border with Mexico to stop a caravan of Central Americans trying to enter the country. Trump also revealed plans to deny U.S. citizenship to children born of unauthorized immigrants as he kicked off a six-day, eight-state, 11-rally campaign swing ahead of next week’s election.

Read a QuickTake about Trump’s focus on ‘birthright citizenship’

Trump promoted a racially charged advertisement on Twitter Wednesday evening showing an undocumented immigrant who killed two police officers in California smirking and boasting in court as the words "Democrats let him into our country" and "let him stay" flash across the screen. Senator Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, quoted on Twitter by Jake Tapper of CNN, called the video "a new low in campaigning."

The targets of Trump’s verbal attacks expanded earlier on Wednesday to include House Speaker Paul Ryan, a fellow Republican who has raised millions of dollars for the party’s candidates, but who criticized Trump’s proposal to end “birthright citizenship.”

Babies born in the U.S. have been deemed American citizens under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.” Trump’s pledge to alter how that constitutional provision is interpreted through executive order is legally controversial, and top officials including Ryan have challenged Trump’s authority to make the change unilaterally.

At the White House, the expectation is that the House is lost. Trump’s travel in the last days of the campaign will focus on Senate and gubernatorial races where it’s thought his presence might swing votes toward Republican candidates. In addition to Florida, he’ll visit Missouri and Indiana twice, West Virginia, Montana, Georgia, Tennessee and Ohio.

Trump’s popularity took a tumble after mail bombs were sent to prominent Democrats last week and the massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday. Trump responded to the events by rejecting criticism that his rhetoric encouraged the violence and blaming the media for creating a hostile political climate.

Trump’s job approval rating fell 4 percentage points in the week that ended Oct. 28, with 40 percent of Americans approving of Trump’s performance as commander in chief, according to Gallup. It was an unusually steep decline for the poll, which is based on a survey of 1,500 U.S. adults conducted Monday through Sunday each week.