AUSTIN, Texas — With less than two weeks to go until Election Day, both presidential candidates were in Texas on Friday.
Vice President Kamala Harris went to Houston for a rally and former President Donald Trump came to Austin, where he spoke to supporters Friday afternoon.
Both candidates are using star power on these visits, with former President Trump taping a podcast episode with Joe Rogan while Beyonce and Willie Nelson joined Vice President Harris’ rally.
Friday’s Austin event was billed as “remarks to the press”, but it was more akin to a mini-rally, with invited supporters that included prominent Texas Republicans like U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The former president spoke for nearly an hour inside a private hangar shortly after landing at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at around 1 p.m., focusing primarily on illegal immigration.
A poll released Oct. 12 by the University of Houston Hobby School shows immigration and border security, along with the economy, are the three top issues for Trump voters in Texas.
Trump repeatedly attacked Harris and the Biden administration for their border policies.
He also invited the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old was killed in Houston in June, to speak.
The two men charged with Nungaray’s murder are suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
“Kamala Harris has never reached out to me, just even as a human to give her condolences as a humane person running this country,” said Alexis Nungaray. “I think it’s very sad that she can’t even just give me an open apology, sincere apology. She’s attempted to apologize to me just days before this election, and I find it very inconvenient, convenience for her.”
The former president promised “the largest deportation operation in American history” if elected.
Trump called for automatic 10-year prison sentences with no parole for repeat unlawful entries, along with the death penalty for migrants that kill American citizens.
“We will end this migrant invasion and we will deport every last criminal alien targeting our daughters and our children, our families, other people’s families,” said Trump. “They’re gonna be gone. They’re gonna be gone fast.”
During his speech, the former president also denied reports this week in the New York Times and The Atlantic that he called fallen military servicemembers “suckers and losers”.
“It’s released just before the election, that suckers and losers story, which was totally fabricated,” said Trump.
Trump left without taking questions from reporters.
The former president will appear at rallies in the battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania on Saturday.