U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump promised Saturday that he would begin removing "hundreds of thousands of criminal illegal immigrants" from the U.S. on his first day in office.
Speaking at an event in the battleground state of Iowa, Trump repeated his trademark pledge to build a border wall, and he offered a new detail of his immigration plan, which has been criticized for being rich in rhetoric but lacking in specifics: He said he would track people who enter the country on visas and ensure they leave when the visa expires.
"If we don't enforce visa expiration dates, then we have an open border — it's as simple as that," Trump said.
He also said a nationwide verification program would prevent noncitizens from obtaining welfare and other social benefits.
Shooting cited
Trump was criticized for using the slaying of professional basketball star Dwyane Wade's cousin as an example of why African-Americans would be better off if he were president.
Nykea Aldridge, Wade's cousin, was shot to death Friday while pushing her child in a carriage on Chicago's South Side.
On Saturday, Trump tweeted, "Dwyane Wade's cousin was just shot and killed while walking her baby in Chicago. Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will VOTE TRUMP!"
While campaigning this week, Trump said he would do something about violence in inner cities. Democrats — who often receive a strong majority of the African-American vote in U.S. elections — have "failed and betrayed" the black community, according to Trump.
But Trump critics said he responded insensitively to the tragedy.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine, who spent Saturday campaigning in Florida, said, "We ought to be extending our sympathy to the family. That's the only reaction that's appropriate right now."
A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton beating Trump 91 percent to 1 percent among African-American voters.
Clinton received a two-hour national security briefing Saturday, her first since becoming the Democratic nominee last month.
The overview of major domestic and global threats facing the U.S. was conducted at a federal government facility near her home outside New York.
Major presidential nominees and their close advisers are required under federal law to be briefed with classified information on security matters by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence so they will be prepared if they assume office.
Trump received a similar security briefing earlier this month that reportedly lasted more than two hours.
Such briefings have been routinely given to presidential contenders by intelligence officials for about 60 years.
