Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday spent nearly his entire speech railing against the U.S. immigration system, but then said he would protect Americans in the U.S. regardless of where they were born.
Trump used his speech following Sunday’s mass shooting in Orlando that left 49 people dead to outline what he said are vulnerabilities with the immigration system that led to the attack.
“We are importing radical Islamic terrorism into the West through a failed immigration system,” Trump said. “All of the September 11th hijackers were issued visas. Large numbers of Somali refugees in Minnesota have tried to join ISIS. The Boston bombers came here through political asylum.”
Trump blamed the fact that the family of shooter Omar Mateen immigrated to the U.S. from Afghanistan for the tragedy. Mateen was born in New York.
“The only reason the killer was in America in the first place was because we allowed his family to come here. That is a fact,” Trump said. “And that is a fact we need to talk about.”
But then, near the end of his speech, Trump reversed his message to one of unity rather than division.
“When I am President, I pledge to protect and defend all Americans who live inside of our borders,” Trump said. “Wherever they come from, wherever they were born, all Americans living here and following our laws, not other laws, will be protected.”
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