Trump immigration speech falls flat with local Hispanic community

Donald Trump’s latest push for the minority vote came on the heels of his poorly-received meeting with Enrique Pena Nieto, the president of Mexico.

Any speculation that Trump may soften his controversial immigration policy was laid to rest Wednesday afternoon.

“My first hour in office, those people are gone,” Trump said during his speech in Arizona. “Zero tolerance for criminal aliens. I am going to create a new Deportation Task Force.”

KESQ and CBS Local 2’s Katie Widner ventured out to the Galilee Center in Mecca on Friday. The center distributes food and goods to under-privileged families and the “poorest of the poor,” said founder Gloria Gomez who immigrated from Mexico when she was a child.

“I am one of the poorest people who has come from Mexico when I was 7 years old and I have done two organizations for the Coachella Valley,” she said.

Gomez also told us she feels Trump needs to think before he speaks, and says the current views he is spreading are similar to discriminatory trends America has seen in the past.

“We can go back to the 1930s and I mean, first it was the Italians, then it was the Germans,” Gomez said. “Now it’s the Mexicans and Japanese, and who else is out there left?”

It is not just members of the Hispanic community who are turned off, it is also those who work closely with them. One volunteer at the center says Trump’s current approach is reminiscent of one infamous and prejudicial leader.

“You can’t just lump 11 million people together, or 16 million people together, and then maybe put them into a bucket like Hitler put Jews into a bucket,” said volunteer Hal Tilbury.

So what would it take for Trump to get the Hispanic vote?

“I think he needs to think before he talks,” Gomez said. “I think we have really hard issues from the Republicans and the Dems and which way we go this year.”

There is also support in the national Hispanic community for Trump. A Facebook page named Latinos for Trump has nearly 30,000 followers and states there are many Americans of Latino and Hispanic descent who are supporting Trump and a strong border.