As former President Donald Trump wrapped up his third presidential campaign in Pennsylvania on Monday, he returned to the themes and false claims that propelled him to the White House and kept him atop the Republican Party nearly a decade: immigrants are here to do U.S. citizens harm, Democrats are actively enabling that immigrant “invasion,” and Trump alone “will fix it, and fast.”

“America will be bigger, better, bolder, richer, safer and stronger than ever before” if he is reelected, Trump told supporters in Reading, Pa. “Over the past four years, Kamala has orchestrated the most egregious betrayal that any leader in American history has ever inflicted upon our people. She's violated her oath of office, she’s eradicated our sovereign border and unleashed an army of gangs and criminal migrants… stealing countless American lives.”

Later in his speech, Trump questioned why Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats would want “open borders” — despite Harris running on the Biden administration’s efforts to stem the flow of asylum seekers crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and her pledges to further strengthen border security and beef up border patrol’s staffing in a Harris administration.

“These are crazy people, or they hate our country, or they think they're going to get these people to sign up and vote. I guess maybe that's it,” Trump said.

It was not the first time in recent days nor in his political career Trump has falsely claimed Democrats are actively bringing immigrants into the country in order to boost their pool of voters. The baseless claim mirrors the “great replacement theory,” a conspiracy theory that elites are working to replace white people with nonwhite immigrants that has inspired white supremacist mass shootings and other acts of violence across the U.S. and the globe. 

In Reading, a city of 95,000 people with a majority Latino population and where Harris was also campaigned on Monday evening as she barnstormed Pennsylvania, Trump described violent crimes committed by “animals” and “savages” from other countries that he connected to “the migrant invasion” and described the United States as an “occupied country.” He pledged to “save democracy” and deport millions of immigrants from the country, in part relying on the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 that allows the president to deport any noncitizen from a country that the U.S. is at war with.

“You know, 1798 that's when they ran the country a little tougher than we run it today. Today you get a slap in the wrist when you kill somebody,” Trump said. “Now, if you fight for a fair and free election, then they throw the book at you, then they throw that book because they don't like it because you get too close.”

Trump, who faces a federal prosecution in Washington and a state racketeering prosecution in Georgia centered on his efforts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election, made fewer false claims about the ongoing 2024 election after baselessly claiming Democrats were attempting to steal it from him over the weekend and making similar claims at various campaign stops in the final weeks of the campaign.

But, one day after discussing reporters getting shot at a rally in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County, Trump did not steer entirely clear of violent rhetoric, at points imagining Penn State’s wrestling team fighting migrants and former heavyweight champion boxer Mike Tyson fighting Harris. 

“I know Iron Mike, and he's a great guy. Mike Tyson, he's a good man,” Trump said, before appearing to respond to a shouted suggestion from a rallygoer. “Oh, he says ‘put Mike in the ring with Kamala.’ That would be interesting.”

Behind Trump at the rally were women sitting holding up pink signs that read “Women for Trump” as his campaign pushes to close the gender gap that polls suggest may end up defining the race. 

Trump brings some of his children on stage in Reading

Trump brought his children on stage at his rally in Reading after he gave them a shoutout from the podium and appeared to get wistful in one of his final campaign events of the 2024 election, saying, “This is our last time now, for forever.”

His children Eric, Don Jr. and Tiffany, along with Eric’s wife and Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump and Tiffany’s husband Michael Boulos, all appeared with the Republican presidential candidate on stage.

Trump’s children, as well as Lara, each addressed the crowd, including a rare turn speaking from Tiffany.

“They’re kind people,” Donald Trump said. “They have big hearts. They’re strong. They can be nasty. But they have big hearts, those great children of mine.”

For Trump, Pennsylvania is the ‘whole ball of wax’

As Trump took the stage in Reading, about 30 miles from Allentown where Harris spoke on Monday, he told the crowd “If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole ball of wax.”

The state’s 19 electoral votes in the Electoral College are coveted by both campaigns, with Harris spending the entirety of her last full day of campaigning in the state and Trump scheduling stops in Reading and Pittsburgh after beginning the day in North Carolina and planning to end the day in Grand Rapids, Mich. 

Recent polls have shown Harris and Trump virtually tied in Pennsylvania, a state Trump lost by around 80,000 votes in 2020 and won by less than 45,000 in 2016.

Southeast Pennsylvania is home to thousands of Latinos, including a sizable Puerto Rican population. Harris and her allies have repeatedly hit Trump for a comedian's dig at Puerto Rico during the former president's marquee Madison Square Garden event. The comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”

In Allentown, Harris rallied with rapper Fat Joe. She then made her own visit to Reading after Trump's rally had concluded, visiting Old San Juan Cafe, a Puerto Rican restaurant, with Ocasio-Cortez. Both Fat Joe, whose real name is Joseph Cartagena, and Ocasio-Cortez are of Puerto Rican heritage.

For his part on Monday, Trump recounted bringing a Puerto Rican woman on stage at his Georgia rally on Sunday night whose daughter was allegedly killed by an undocumented immigrant. 

“Migrant came in from a country, just brutal. They're just killers. I mean, they don't care,” Trump said. “We have incredible people in this country, I’ll tell you. And we can't let savages come in from other countries and take them out. We can't let these animals come in from other countries.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.