Donald Trump held a campaign rally in New York's South Bronx, hoping to garner support from black and Latino voters ahead of the November presidential election.
Among those sharing the stage with him Thursday was Byron Donald, a Republican from Florida who has been rumored to be a possible vice presidential candidate.
Trump, who is considered the Republican presidential nominee, is seeking to win the support of minority voters and will be holding his first rally in New York in about eight years.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden appears to be losing support among key voting bloc in key states, according to a recent New York Times/Siena poll.
The Bronx is a district with a predominantly Hispanic and black population and is a Democratic stronghold.
Trump spent much of the time speaking directly to the New York audience about his legacy in the city where he built much of his wealth and fame.
“We were an inspiration to the whole world,” he said at the start of his roughly 90-minute speech, describing the city today as a place in “decline,” with crime plagued and its infrastructure crumbling.
He blamed Biden and the record numbers of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border for the economic impact on minority voters.
“The biggest negative impact is [of illegal immigration] “This is an attack on black and Hispanic residents who have lost their jobs, who have lost their homes, who have lost everything they have to lose,” Trump told the crowd.
Before Trump arrived, there were concerns about how he would be received in the Bronx.
“I wish he would just disappear,” one man told The New York Times ahead of the rally.
“Nobody I know supports him.”
There was a heavy police presence in Crotona Park as counter-demonstrators gathered outside the rally.
They were eventually removed by the New York Police Department, according to the BBC's US media partner CBS.
But those who spoke to the BBC said they appreciated Mr Trump showing a willingness to step out of his comfort zone.
“It's just a bold move for him to come to the Bronx,” Jeffrey Davis said. “What he's done here is very respectable.”
When asked why he supports Trump, Davis said, “There were no wars when he was president. There was no war between Ukraine and Russia, no war between Israel and Gaza.”
“He's an America First guy,” said Tamar Corniel, a Trump supporter born in the Dominican Republic.
Trump has stepped up his efforts to engage with minority communities in hopes of making a difference in key battleground states.
Biden and Trump are locked in a fierce battle ahead of the November 5 election.
In April, during a break in his hush money criminal trial in New York, Trump stopped by a corner store in Harlem.
He also spoke at a gala for the Black Conservative League, an organization that works to expand Republican support among black voters, and hired a black media director, Janiya Thomas.
However, there were also failures.
In February, he came under fire after saying the four criminal charges against him made him more popular among black Americans, who see him as a victim of discrimination.
A recent New York Times/Siena poll found that Trump is beating Biden in five battleground states, in part because black and Latino voters are turning away from the Democratic Party.
President Biden has noted the bloc's crucial role in winning the 2020 presidential election and has spent millions of dollars on a targeted advertising offensive.
Younger and non-white voters, frustrated by issues like inflation and the White House's support for Israel, appear to be losing faith in Biden and the Democratic Party.
During Biden's recent commencement speech at Morehouse College, a historically black college, several graduates turned their backs on the president during the ceremony in protest of his response to the Gaza war.
Peace prayers for Hailey
After the rally, Trump extended a conciliatory hand to his Republican primary rival, Nikki Haley, calling her a “very qualified person” and saying he hoped she would contribute to his team “in some way.”
Haley said earlier this week that she would vote for whoever beat her in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, a race that has seen sharp accusations exchanged between both sides.
“We're on the same page, we're on the same page on a lot of things,” Trump said, acknowledging that the spat between the two was “pretty nasty.”
She eventually withdrew and challenged her opponent to win the support of the millions of voters who elected her — the same demographic the Biden campaign has been trying to attract.
