Watch: Trump Delivers Campaign Pitch on Migration Policy to Swing Voters

President Donald Trump pitched his migration policy to uneasy swing voters on Tuesday by displaying the faces of many arrested and deported migrants — and by touting his economic accomplishments.

“These are all criminal illegal aliens,” Trump told the White House press room as he displayed photos of the detained migrants:

In many cases, they’re murderers, they’re drug lords, drug dealers, the mentally insane, some of them who are brutal killers. They’re mentally insane. They’re killers, but they’re insane. These [migrants] are just in Minnesota. [In] California, it’s worse. In other states, it’s worse.

The display was pitched to reassure the election-deciding swing voters who are unnerved by the apparent chaos — including the lethal shooting of an activist in Minnesota.

Democratic political strategists want media-magnified chaos to frighten swing voters, and that goal is being pushed by the alliance of Democrats, pro-migration groups, and the establishment media.

For example, a mid-January poll by CBS shows Trump’s policies have 90 percent support among Republicans, 10 percent support among Democrats, and 40 percent support among independents.

The same poll shows independents are evenly split in their views towards the anti-ICE protests.

A Wall Street Journal poll taken Jan. 8-13 shows a near-tie in strong support or strong opposition for Trump’s policies, and a near-tie for “somewhat approve” and “somewhat disapprove.”

But pocketbook issues are most important for those swing voters, says Kristen Soltis Anderson, a GOP-aligned pollster. She told the New York Times for a January 15 article:

As horrifying as the situation in Minnesota was, and as much as it has broken through, if you’re a Republican, persistent worries about cost of living — not immigration or even immigration enforcement — are the thing your own constituents are more likely to hold you personally responsible for fixing.

“As we heard in that focus group …  a lot of Trump’s voters feel they got exactly what they were promised,” she said, adding:

At the same time, there has been a clear dip in Trump’s job approval, driven by declining confidence in his ability to handle the economy. What used to be his strong suit is now his weak spot.

Trump repeatedly hit that pocketbook point in his press conference. For example, he said:

Under Biden, real incomes declined $3,000 a year In 12 months of Trump, real incomes went up by $2,000 and even in some cases, $5,000. A  tremendous difference.”

Trump’s comment also showed his zig-zag focus on economic growth by workplace automation and productivity, not just by President Joe Biden’s pro-Wall Street strategy of importing more consumers, renters, and workers.

 I could add 2 million jobs right now … I do the opposite. I say, get rid of everybody [from jobs that are] unnecessary, because that’s the way you Make America Great Again. When you have all these jobs where people are sitting around doing nothing and they get a lot of money by the government, it’s no good.

He made sure to blame Democrats and the Somali migrants for the breakdown of law and order — anarchy — in Minnesota. “For Minnesota, the crime [by migrants] is incredible,” he said, adding: “$19 billion, at a minimum, is missing in Minnesota.” He blamed the apparent chaos on the media and the “paid agitators and insurrectionists.”

In contrast, “we have a very strong border,” he said.  “We have very few people coming up. They’re not going to make the trek because they know they probably won’t be coming in.”

Trump also addressed the January shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent during a confrontation on a side street in Minnesota.

Democrats are using the killing to spike an emotional response from women — and some swing voters.

“I don’t think the White House helped by trying to label [Renee] Good a domestic terrorist,” Anderson said on January 15. “It wasn’t credible. It might have been more politically effective to concede that something tragic had happened and that it would need to be investigated thoroughly.”

Trump said:

Sometimes ICE is going to be too rough with somebody, or, you know, they’re dealing with rough people, they’re going to make a mistake. Sometimes it can happen. I felt horribly when I was told that the young woman who had a tragedy. It’s a tragedy. It’s a horrible thing. Everybody would say the same thing.

In his pitch to swing voters, Trump coupled his sharp criticism of illegal migrants with repeated claims that he is deporting criminal migrants — and that he likes hardworking, legalized migrants.

We have a lot of heart for [illegal migrant] people. They came in illegally, but they’re good people, and they’re working now on farms and they’re working in luncheonettes and hotels. We’re looking to get the criminals out right now, the criminals, and I think it’s very important …  We’re focused on the murderers, the drug dealers, the mentally insane. We have a lot of killers.

“When you have good people in the farm or good people in hotels and everything else, we want to work with them as much as we can,” he said.

Trump is not anti-migrant — but he zig-zags between his deep dislike of illegal migration and his sympathy for foreign workers and the employers who hire them. “We have a big process for having people come in legally,” he said, adding:

By the way, a lot of people are coming in legally. They have to prove they love our country. They have to prove that they’re not going to need welfare.

But he also celebrated the declining number of migrants in the United States, saying, “For the first time in 50 years, we are now seeing reverse migration, because we’re getting all of these illegal people out.”