Washington: Donald Trump deployed some of his harshest rhetoric against immigrants who have crossed the border illegally and committed crimes, especially against young women, while he also escalated his personal insults against Kamala Harris.

In the battleground state of Wisconsin, Trump on Saturday (US time) called Democratic Vice President Harris, who on Friday visited the US-Mexico border for the first time in her 2024 presidential campaign, “mentally impaired” and “mentally disabled”.

The Republican presidential candidate was flanked by posters of immigrants in the US illegally who have been arrested for murder and other violent crimes, and banners saying “End Migrant Crime” and “Deport Illegals Now.”

His speech was unusually devoted almost entirely to undocumented immigrants. He called those who had committed violent crime “monsters,” “stone-cold killers” and “vile animals”.

Trump is locked in a close race with Harris ahead of the November 5 election. Immigration and the southern border are one of the top issues for voters.

Sarafina Chitika, a Harris spokesperson, said after Trump’s speech: “He’s got nothing ‘inspiring’ to offer the American people, just darkness.”

The former president blamed Harris and Democratic President Joe Biden for allowing undocumented immigrants into the US, accusing some migrants of wanting to “rape, pillage, thieve, plunder and kill the people of the United States of America.”

At one point Trump admitted: “This is a dark speech”.