He seized on scenes of a caravan of Central American migrants heading through Mexico for the US, mused ending the constitutional guarantee of citizenship to all people born in the US and ran a television advertisement, deemed too provocative to air by mainstream networks, linking Democrats to a criminal who was an undocumented immigrant.
Trump also has sent soldiers to the Mexican border and threatened to have illegal immigrants shot if they throw stones.
“It’s a consequential election,” Yorgo Koutsogiogasi, a 64-year-old immigrant from Greece and CEO of a hospitality company, said as he voted in Chicago.
“Divisiveness is really tearing the country apart,” Koutsogiogasi, a Democrat, said as he voted with his wife. “I’m voting for candidates that I believe have the capacity to unite people rather than divide.”
But Republican voter James Gerlock, 27, said he wanted to see more of the soaring economic growth that Trump says is the fruit of his business-friendly policies.
“I am extremely happy with the economy,” Gerlock said as he cast his ballot in Chicago. “I just want to keep everything moving, because I’m loving it.”