Former President Donald Trump appeared in Austin on Friday, delivering a 45-minute speech on border security.
The former president talked about Texas’ border but didn’t mention the state’s near-total abortion ban. He also invited Ted Cruz on a trip to Venezuela.
Former President Donald Trump came to Texas on Friday to troll Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of her rally in Houston and sit down with Joe Rogan, the former comedian turned podcast host and occasional conspiracy theorist.
Trump touted his mass deportation plan, blamed Harris for “importing violent gang members” across the southern border, and targeted transgender people, which has become a ritual for many of the right-wing Republicans in the crowd — including US Sen. Ted Cruz, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.
“We’re here today in the great state of Texas, which under Kamala Harris has been turned into ground zero for the largest border invasion in the history of the world,” Trump said.
“But over the past four years, this state has become Kamala’s staging ground to import her army of migrant gangs and illegal alien criminals into every state in America,” Trump added.
Trump repeated his false claim from the campaign trail that Harris has been in charge of border security. Yet earlier this year, Trump objected to a bipartisan border bill and Cruz was among Republicans who helped block it. The bill offered $20 billion for border security and immigration reform.
Trump, flanked by border patrol agents, touted the endorsement of the National Border Patrol Council, which backed the former president during a rally in Arizona on Oct. 14. Border Patrol agent Paul Perez, who heads the union’s Local 3307, stood on stage with Trump during the Austin event.
“I really respect the fact that you came out to Texas to highlight migrant crime, illegal alien crime,” Perez said.
Border security is a top issue for Texas voters, according to recent polls. It was first among a poll of 800 registered voters from Texas Public Opinion Research, ahead of affordability and abortion. Immigration is third among top priorities for Latino voters in Texas, behind inflation and jobs, according to a UnidosUS poll.
But Trump didn’t mention abortion during an often rambling, 45-minute speech delivered in an airport hanger in Austin. In 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision Trump has taken credit for on the campaign trail. He lied during his September debate with Harris, claiming that court decision would allow Texas voters to have a say on the issue. They won’t.
Since Roe was overturned, ending a women’s right to abortion, Texas enacted one of the nation’s toughest abortion bans. The measure doesn’t include exceptions for rape or incest, and has left medical providers hesitant to perform the procedure even if the life of the woman is threatened by her pregnancy.
More than half of Texas voters support expanding access to abortion, and the fight over reproductive rights has boosted the campaign of US Rep. Colin Allred, the Dallas Democrat running against Cruz for a seat in the US Senate.
‘If we don’t win, we’re going to Venezuela’
During his speech, Trump also focused on Venezuela, falsely claiming that crime in the South American country has dropped 72% and attributing the decrease to Venezuelan gangs moving their operations into the US. Crime in the country has dropped 25%, thanks mostly to a souring economy, according to Venezuelan security officials.
“Venezuelan crime is down 72%. Can you believe it? Well, that’s because the criminals are being put here,” Trump said.
Gov. Greg Abbott labeled a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, as a foreign terrorist organization in September just days after Trump raised the issue during his debate with Harris.
During his comments about Venezuela, Trump mentioned Cruz and inadvertently touched on a criticism the senator has faced during his run for a third term. Allred has repeatedly blasted Cruz for traveling to Cancún during the state’s winter storm disaster in 2021 and putting himself ahead of Texans.
Trump, on Friday, invited Cruz to Venezuela if the two don’t win their races on Nov. 5.
“If we don’t win this election, we’re going to go to Venezuela next year, Ted. And we’re going to celebrate there because it’s going to be much safer than our country. Okay. Is that a deal? We’ll all go together,” Trump said.
Trump then compared his misleading rhetoric about immigration to transgender people, who have been targeted by Patrick, Paxton and right-wing state lawmakers.
“It’s sort of like, actually, in a smaller way but still very important way, men playing in women’s sports. Who would want that,” Trump said during a mostly incoherent rant.
“Ten years ago, you would never say that. And then you have the transgender operations all over the place and you’re saying this and you have parental guidance and we want our child to be parentally guided and you have to make apologies for the fact that they’re not, but they’re going to be and we’re going to bring that back,” he added.
Trump then turned to Harris, who is holding a rally in Houston on Friday with Allred and entertainers Beyoncé and Wille Nelson.
“I think she’s coming here today,” Trump said. “But she doesn’t want to go to a swing state because she’s losing so badly in those states so she decided to come to Texas. And I’m sure she’ll be treated nicely. Today, she picked the wrong place.”
Recent polls show that in swing states, the race between Trump and Harris is extremely close.
Trump and Harris arrived in the state on the fifth day of in-person early voting. Through the first four days of early voting, 3.3 million Texans — 17.73% of the state’s 18.6 registered voters — have cast ballots, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s Office. Early voting continues until Nov. 1.
