Former US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that people will leave the United States if he is re-elected because he will take strict measures against immigration.
Trump predicted – in a speech he delivered before a rally of his supporters in the city of Durham, Hampshire – that some Americans would choose to move outside the country if he assumed the presidency again.
The American magazine Newsweek quoted Trump as saying, “You know what will happen once we win. People will rush out of the country. They will leave before we do anything because they will realize that I will work to restore and expand the travel ban (to the United States) from countries infested with terrorism.”
He continued, “And I will impose a strong ideological check on all irregular immigrants. If you hate America, if you want to eliminate Israel, and if you sympathize with jihadists, then we do not want you in our homeland. We do not want you.”
During his previous presidency, Trump imposed a travel ban from certain countries for the first time by executive decision in January 2017. The decision banned the entry of people from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, in addition to North Korea and Venezuela.
The decision was then expanded to include Burma, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Sudan, but President Joe Biden signed an executive decision on his first day in office repealing his predecessor’s decision to ban travel.
Newsweek reported in its report that it contacted the Trump campaign team via email to comment on what was contained in the former president’s speech, without obtaining a response.
Trump is considered the most likely candidate in the Republican Party’s primary elections to choose its nominee for the presidential race in 2024.
According to the magazine, the former president continues to rally his supporters behind the “Make America Great Again” movement, which relies heavily on anti-immigration policy.
It stated in its report that Trump said “jokingly” – at a rally in the city of Mequon, Georgia, as part of his re-election campaign – that if Biden wins the presidency, he will leave the country.
He added on that occasion, “Competing against the worst president in the history of presidential elections puts pressure on me. Can you imagine if I lost, perhaps I would have to leave the country? I don’t know.”
