UNIONDALE: Donald Trump railed against illegal immigrants Wednesday and pledged to visit an Ohio town simmering with racial tensions fuelled by his campaign’s conspiracy theories, as Kamala Harris courted minority voters and relished a poll bump in key swing states.

The Republican ex-president, whose hardline anti-immigrant rhetoric has become a centrepiece of his election campaign, told a boisterous rally on New York’s Long Island that he would visit Springfield “in the next two weeks.”

Trump and his running mate JD Vance have repeatedly falsely claimed that immigrants from Haiti were eating residents’ pets in the Ohio town, where schools and government buildings have faced bomb threats after their comments.

In fierce remarks on Wednesday, Trump described illegal immigrants as “animals” and gang members who were destroying Americans’ way of life.

“We’re going to take those violent people and we’re going to ship them back to their country, and if they come back in, they’re going to pay a hell of a price,” he warned.

With the candidates effectively tied in the polls less than seven weeks before Election Day, the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday made news that may well impact the race. The central bank cut its key lending rate by half a percentage point, the first reduction since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The move, which sharply lowers borrowing costs for Americans, was well-received by Vice President Harris, who has looked to highlight her and President Joe Biden’s economic record in her race against Trump.

She called it “welcome news for Americans who have borne the brunt of high prices,” while Biden’s White House said the rate cut marked a “moment of progress” for the US economy.

But in a potential setback for the Harris camp ahead of the November 5 election, the influential Teamsters union announced it would not endorse a presidential candidate in 2024.

The group had endorsed Democrats in every presidential election since 2000.

The powerful union’s decision came minutes after Harris told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute of her commitment to working Americans.

“We have to put the middle class first. We have to put the working class first, understanding their dreams and their desires and their ambitions,” she told the group in Washington.