Donald Trump: Mexico deliberately sends criminals into US

Republican presidential hopeful, Donald Trump, has criticised US immigration and trade policies, while veering from accusing Mexico of deliberately sending criminals across the border to professing respect for the Mexican government and love for its people.

Speaking to libertarians in Las Vegas, before headlining an event in Phoenix, Trump repeated his charge that Mexico was sending violent offenders to the US and that US officials were being “dumb” in dealing with immigrants living in the country illegally. “These people wreak havoc on our population,” he said at the libertarian gathering, FreedomFest, inside a Planet Hollywood ballroom on the Las Vegas Strip.

In the 4,200-capacity Phoenix convention centre, which was packed with flag-waving supporters, Trump momentarily took a different view and said: “I love the Mexican people. I love ’em. Many, many people from Mexico are legal. They came in the old-fashioned way. Legally.”