President-elect Donald Trump drew cheers from the crowd at AmericaFest in downtown Phoenix on Sunday when he spoke about a border crackdown, including a “historic slate of executive orders” that will surpass the scope of mass deportation efforts in the 1950s.
He pledged to seal the border and remove criminal elements who he says are smuggling drugs, fostering gang violence, and endangering communities across the country.
“We will stop illegal immigration once and for all,” Trump told the enthusiastic standing-room-only crowd gathered at the Phoenix Convention Center on Sunday morning. “We will not be occupied. We will not be overrun.”
Trump delivered his first rally-style speech since his election victory, closing the conservative AmericaFest conference 2024 in downtown Phoenix with a speech that lasted slightly more than an hour.
Returning to Arizona for the first time since his 2024 election win, Trump delivered a speech outlining his plans for taking office — including his administration’s immigration and border enforcement policies.
Trump said Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, 2025, will effectively launch a removal program for undocumented immigrants called “Operation Aurora,” and referenced an Eisenhower-era deportation program that used military-style tactics to remove illegal immigrants and included raids on cities as far north as St. Louis, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“We will begin the largest deportation operation in American history, larger even than that of President Dwight D. Eisenhower,” Trump said. “We will get them out fast, and we have no choice.”
The last day of the conference featured speakers who largely focused on border and immigration enforcement, including Paul Perez, president of the National Border Patrol Council, and Thomas Homan, Trump’s pick for “border czar.”
Both speakers lambasted President Joe Biden and his administration for walking back Trump-era policies on the border.
“Joe Biden is the first president in the history of this nation who came into office and unsecured a border on purpose: not by mismanagement, not by incompetence,” Homan said. “They unsecured a border by design.”
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