Trump accepts Republican nomination, ends convention slamming immigrants

Donald Trump on Thursday formally accepted his party's nomination, the same way he launched his campaign by slamming immigrants and linking them to crime.

Trump did not budge from his combative stance on immigration as he wrapped up the week's Republican National Convention held in Cleveland, Ohio, NBC News reported.

He officially accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president by telling a pumped-up crowd that the nation's security is under threat from immigrants and illegal immigration.

"Nearly 180,000 people with criminal records ordered deported from our country are tonight roaming free to threaten peaceful citizens," NBC News quoted the Manhattan real estate mogul as saying.

Trump's remarks were met with chants of "Build a Wall", which has become one of the slogans of his campaign.

Trump reminded the crowd that on Monday night they heard from three people whose loved ones were victims murdered by immigrants not legally in the country.

"We heard from three parents whose children were killed by illegal immigrants ? They are just three brave representatives of many thousands," Trump said.

The billionaire businessman said nothing has affected him more than the time he spent with mothers and fathers "who have lost their children to violence spilling over the border," NBC News said.

Trump also pointed to immigration as the ill that has perpetuated economic malaise in this country.

"Decades of record immigration have produced lower wages and higher unemployment for our citizens, especially for African Americans and Latino workers," Trump said.

He also sold himself as the champion of a downtrodden working class, promising to restore "law and order" and casting himself as a change agent against presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

"I am your voice...Hillary Clinton's message is that things will never change. Never ever." Politico quoted Trump as saying.

"My message is that things have to change and they have to change right now," he added.

He also spoke of spiking crime, "third-world" airports, growing trade deficits, "chaos in our communities," and terrorism on the home front. Abroad, he said the situation was "worse than it has ever been before," Politico reported citing the business magnate.

"This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism and weakness...My plan is the exact opposite of the radical and dangerous immigration policy of Hillary Clinton," he said.

"Lock her up!" the crowd burst out repeatedly during Trump's speech and throughout the week.

His speech lasted for 75 minutes, beating out former President Bill Clinton's acceptance speech at his party's convention in 1996.

At the end, Trump and his Vice President nominee Mike Pence were joined by their families on state.

--IANS

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