PHOENIX (AP) – Donald Trump is stepping into the heart of the nation’s battle over immigration when he visits Arizona, but the Republican presidential candidate will come face to face with not only immigrant-rights advocates but a Republican Party that is trying to move beyond the divisive issue.
The state’s major Chamber of Commerce group, both U.S. senators and a host of other GOP backers heaped their ire on Trump as Saturday’s visit drew near. Democrats and Republicans who run the city government blasted him even as they supported his right to rent the city-owned Phoenix Convention Center for what is expected to be an overflow crowd. And GOP Gov. Doug Ducey, who met Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker when they were recently in the state, is snubbing the real estate mogul.
Protester plan to gather outside the convention center, and they were doing Friday in Los Angeles for another Trump event.
Trump arrives in Arizona after speaking in Las Vegas at the Libertarian-minded Freedom Fest gathering. The businessman’s comments about immigration haven’t elicited the public outcry in Nevada that they have elsewhere even though the state’s population is 27 percent Hispanic. Trump’s appearance at the conference, which bills itself as an egalitarian event for free-thinkers to discuss and celebrate liberty, was a recent addition to the lineup that includes a speech by fellow Republican presidential contender Marco Rubio on Friday night.
Trump is getting plenty of support from immigration hawks in Arizona. Saturday’s rally was first planned at a posh resort that could handle about 1,000 guests, but was moved to the convention center, which can handle more than 4,000 people.