• Pascal Albright Arizona Daily Star

Former President Donald Trump took the stage in Tucson Thursday afternoon for the first time this campaign cycle, vowing if elected to begin the "largest deportation operation" in the history of the United States.

Former President Donald Trump took the stage in Tucson Thursday afternoon for the first time this campaign cycle, vowing if elected to begin the β€œlargest deportation operation” in the history of the United States.

Trump, whose main messaging has historically centered around immigration, told the rowdy crowd of 2,000 supporters at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall downtown that he would stop migrants from coming from β€œmental institutions and insane asylums.”

β€œUnder Kamala Harris, our country is under a thing called invasion,” Trump claimed. β€œWe are being conquered and occupied by a foreign element. We’ve got to get them the hell out of here. Kamala is flying them here from other countries,” he said, citing no evidence.

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall on Sept. 12. This was Trump’s first visit to Tucson since October 2020. Arizona is receiving attention as a battleground state in the November presidential election.

Though he recycled some of his most controversial statements from his debate Tuesday night with Democratic Vice President Harris, Trump vowed not to debate Harris again.

He once again mentioned debunked claims that Haitian immigrants are taking people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio; referred to β€œthe Charlottesville hoax”; quoted Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban’s praise for him; complained that President Joe Biden β€œhasn’t spoken to Putin in years”; and warned β€œshe wants to confiscate your guns” despite Harris saying in the debate that she is a gun owner herself.

He also claimed some states β€œdo allow abortions even after birth in some cases” β€” an act that would be infanticide and is illegal in all states, analysts have said.

Supporters take photos and videos of former President Donald Trump as he takes the stage during a rally at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall on Sept. 12. This was Trump’s first visit to Tucson since October 2020. Arizona is receiving attention as a battleground state in the November presidential election.

On the abortion subject, Trump said Harris says he wants to monitor women’s pregnancies. β€œWomen, I won’t be following you around to the hospital, monitoring you. She’s a liar,” he said.

Trump declared that if he was president now, β€œWe would have had no Russian-Ukraine problem, no Oct. 7, no pullout from Afghanistan in that horrible way they did,” and added, β€œWe’ll also stop World War III.”

Railing on the immigration issue that dominated his speech, Trump said Haitian immigrants in Springfield are β€œdestroying the entire way of life” of a β€œbeautiful community (that’s) now horrible.”

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, has defended the Haitian immigrants in the area. β€œThese Haitians came in here to work because there were jobs, and they filled a lot of jobs,” DeWine told CBS News. β€œAnd if you talk to employers, they’ve done a very, very good job and they work very, very hard.”

β€œThere will be no third debate,” Trump declared, despite asserting that he had won it.

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall on Sept. 12. This was Trump’s first visit to Tucson since October 2020. Arizona is receiving attention as a battleground state in the November presidential election.

Harris swept the first batch of post-debate polls by a 23-point margin and took a five-point edge in the first national post-debate poll, released by Reuters.

That didn’t deter Trump from lashing out in Tucson against his opponent. He repeatedly called her β€œComrade Kamala."

The former president didn’t focus on policy until the middle of his speech, where he unveiled a new proposal to not tax overtime pay for workers.

β€œIt gives people more incentive to work,” he said, causing the crowd to break into a deafening applause.

He also calls for no taxes on tips or on Social Security benefits.

Towards the end of his speech, Trump mentioned the β€œaffordability crisis” in Arizona, and pledged to cut energy costs in the state by 50% in the first year.

He also pledged to sign an executive order β€œdirecting the immediate termination of every single rule that is impeding housing construction and driving up the cost of housing,” and said he will rapidly decrease inflation β€œby slashing energy costs, taxes and regulations," which he said will bring interest rates down.Β 

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall in Tucson, Ariz. on Sept. 12. This was Trump’s first visit to Tucson since October 2020. Arizona is receiving attention as a battleground state in the November presidential election.

He said he will require all housing that receives federal subsidies to verify citizenship of renters; β€œtaxpayers will not subsidize rent for illegal aliens.” He said he will β€œban all mortgages for illegal immigrants. We won’t let them drive up prices for Americans.”

To β€œsave the suburbs,” he said, he will protect single-family zoning so that apartments and low-income housing won’t be built next door in a β€œMarxist crusade.” 

That led him to note that some pundits say suburban women don't want to vote for him, but he said he doesn't think that's true. "I never had any problems with women," he said.Β 

Trump also vowed to open up new tracts of federal land for large scale housing construction. About 18% of all land in the state is owned by the β€œBureau of Land Mismanagement,” he said.

He also pledged, β€œWe will build a missile defense shield over our country, and much of it will be made right here,” seemingly referring to Tucson’s Raytheon. He said Ronald Reagan wanted to build one β€œbut we have the technology now.”

Before former President Trump took the stage at his Tucson rally on Thursday, Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake warmed up the crowd. She said, β€œevery block for miles looks like The Walking Dead,” and she blamed the city’s Democratic leadership.

Video by Kimberly Kalil, Arizona Daily Star

Before Trump came out, Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake warmed up the crowd. In Tucson, she said, β€œevery block for miles looks like The Walking Dead,” and she blamed the city’s Democratic leadership.

Trump made sure to give Lake a shoutout, even giving her the new nickname of β€œBorder Kari Lake” because he said she can win on that issue.

Despite the joyous energy in the venue β€” his supporters were decked in their usual scarlet red Make America Great Again hats and frequently broke out into chants, dances and songs β€” Trump brought a bit of controversy to the city.

Tucson legend Linda Ronstadt blasted Trump’s visit to the city on Wednesday evening in a statement released on her social media accounts.

β€œI don’t just deplore his toxic politics, his hatred of women, immigrants and people of color, his criminality, dishonesty and ignorance β€” although there’s that,” Ronstadt wrote. β€œFor me it comes down to this: In Nogales and across the southern border, the Trump Administration systematically ripped apart migrant families seeking asylum.”

Supporters exit the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall in Tucson, Ariz. after former President Donald Trump held a rally on September 12, 2024.

Rondstadt continued: β€œFamily separation made orphans of thousands of little children and babies and brutalized their desperate mothers and fathers. It remains a humanitarian catastrophe that Physicians for Human Rights said met the criteria for torture.”

Trump’s visit came on the same day that Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff was scheduled to stop in Tucson, while Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz stopped by in Phoenix on Tuesday and his Republican counterpart, JD Vance, visited the Phoenix Valley last week.

The influx of presidential campaign visits comes after new polls show Trump and Harris neck-and-neck in the state.

Trump has still not paid his $80,000 bill to the city for his 2016 stop at the Tucson Convention Center. The debt has since been wiped from the city books, a city councilman told the Arizona Daily Star.

This time, Trump’s campaign paid a $145,222 deposit upfront to use the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall for his rally Thursday, says Lane Mandle, chief of staff for the city manager’s office. That covers the use of the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall and the estimated cost of security provided mostly by city police.

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