SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Former President Donald Trump faced some tough questions from Latino voters Wednesday night. He largely sidestepped those questions in his answers and instead stuck to his broader and, often, false campaign themes that are part of his stump speech.
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DONALD TRUMP: A lot of people come into our country. We just want them to come in legally, through a system, because they've released hundreds of thousands of people that are murderers, drug dealers, terrorists.
DETROW: Trump was making his pitch to a group of undecided voters assembled at a town hall hosted by Univision outside of Miami. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez was watching and joins us. Hey, Franco.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: What stood out to you from this town hall?
ORDOÑEZ: I mean, I'd say two things. One was how pointed some of the questions were and also how he really didn't answer many of them. I mean, he was asked about his plans for immigration - for example, who would pick crops if undocumented immigrants were deported - and whether he really believed false claims that migrants in Ohio were eating cats and dogs. Again, he mostly deflected and used those questions to instead warn those in the audience that migrants were going to take away their jobs.
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TRUMP: The African American population and the Hispanic population in particular are losing jobs now because millions of people are coming in.
ORDOÑEZ: I mean, Trump just stuck to his campaign message in many ways, you know, making an economic case for the Latino vote and attacking Biden and Harris on the border.
DETROW: Trump was speaking to undecided voters, which was clear when one voter said he wanted to give Trump a chance to win back his vote and then asked about January 6. How did Trump respond?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. That question was from a Republican, Ramiro Gonzalez. And it was about his concerns he had about Trump's actions on January 6 - or inaction - and why Trump's top officials no longer support him. Trump gave a pretty lengthy defense of his actions. He actually called January 6 a day of love.
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TRUMP: Hundreds of thousands of people come to Washington. They didn't come because of me. They came because of the election. They thought the election was a rigged election, and that's why they came. Some of those people went down to the Capitol. I said peacefully and patriotically - nothing done wrong.
ORDOÑEZ: But, you know, of course, we know a lot was done wrong. Trump called supporters to the Capitol. He told them to, quote, "fight like hell." More than 1,000 people have since been convicted. Four people died that day. I mean, really, Trump's depiction of that day just really bears no resemblance to reality.
DETROW: Right. Right. Franco, let's step back for a moment because I feel like there's been a lot of conversation about this. Can you explain why Trump is doing better than expected with Latinos, even though so much of his rhetoric attacks immigrants, particularly Latino immigrants?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah, Scott. I mean, we should be clear. Many Latinos are put off by his language. And Trump is not expected to win Latinos. Democrats are. That said, Trump is doing better with Latinos than many past Republicans running for this office. I mean, one reason is some Latinos feel his rhetoric is just more bluster than action. Another reason is many Latinos on the voter rolls are second- and third-generation Americans. Their views are just more aligned with every other voter. And polls show while immigration is an important issue for Latino voters, it's not the top issue. The top issue for most Latinos, like so many Americans, is the economy.
DETROW: Yeah.
ORDOÑEZ: The cost of living and inflation.
DETROW: That is NPR's Franco Ordoñez. Thank you so much.
ORDOÑEZ: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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