Former President Donald Trump on Saturday told a predominantly Black church in Detroit that migrants were "taking your jobs" and pledged to revitalize the city's auto industry by slapping tariffs on imports.
He also claimed to be the best president for Blacks since Abraham Lincoln, though it wasn't immediately clear what he was referring to. When he was in the White House he wanted to call out the military against Black Lives Matter protesters and "shoot them in the legs or something," reported his Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
The presumptive Republican nominee against President Joe Biden also said that crime was "most rampant here, in African-American communities" before saying the "Black population wants law enforcement more than any others," Reuters reported.
Trump's visit to the 180 Church reportedly drew a mix of local residents and die-hard supporters, with some commenters on social media noting the number of white people visible in cellphone video recordings of the event.
It also came after he called the Motor City "totally corrupt" and "crooked as hell" while claiming the 2020 election results there against him were the result of fraud.
During a forum moderated by U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a potential Trump running mate, the former president said the influx of migrants into the country had harmed Black Americans.
"They're coming into your community, and they're taking your jobs," he said. "We have to get them out."
The church's senior pastor, Lorenzo Sewell, credited Trump for showing up by comparing him to America's first Black president, Barack Obama.
"President Obama never came to the 'hood,'" Sewell said. "So, thank you."
Trump has been attempting to increase his appeal to Black voters, including by highlighting the unprecedented criminal charges lodged against him in four jurisdictions.
"When I did the mug shot in Atlanta, that mug shot is No. 1," he told a group of Black Republicans in South Carolina in February. "You know who embraced it more than anyone else? The Black population."
Last month, Trump was convicted on all counts in the Stormy Daniels "hush money" case and faces sentencing on July 11, days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
