ATLANTA – Former President Donald Trump devoted much of his final campaign rally in Georgia Sunday night to illegal immigration.
The Republican nominee to return to the White House brought the mother of a murder victim to the stage at the Atrium Health Amphitheater.
Minelys Rodriguez-Ramirez, 25, of Cornelia, was last seen near a Walmart on Oct. 22 and reported missing Oct. 23. After her remains were discovered last week, Angel DeJesus Rivera-Sanchez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was arrested and charged with murder.
“The animal who murdered Mimi was an illegal alien,” Trump said. “We have to deport these murderers, drug dealers, terrorists.”
Rodriguez-Ramirez’ mother, Carmen, gave Trump a ringing endorsement from the podium.
“Everybody has to vote because that’s the only way we’re going to save our country,” she said.
Trump also reprised many of the themes that have drawn enthusiastic applause at previous rallies in Georgia, a battleground state he has visited frequently in recent weeks.
“Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” Trump asked the crowd shortly after hitting the stage.
“Kamala broke it, and I’ll fix it!” he added, echoing a line from a campaign ad blaming Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, for ills plaguing the nation during the last four years including inflation.
Trump promised to double down on the tax cuts he steered through Congress in 2017, his first year in office.
“I gave you the biggest tax cut in history, and you’ll get more,” he said.
Trump also repeated his “Drill, baby drill” mantra, promising more aggressive oil exploration aimed at making the U.S. energy independent.
Democrats have countered Trump’s stand on illegal immigration by citing statistics showing the crime rate among immigrants is lower than among native-born Americans.
In her campaign ads, Harris has argued that the tax cut Trump is promising would mostly benefit the wealthy, while she would reduce taxes on 100 million middle-class Americans.