CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Former President Donald Trump focused on rising crime and unchecked illegal immigration while in Charlotte Friday to formally accept the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police.

The Republican presidential nominee, speaking at the Hilton Charlotte University Place hotel, accused Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, of presiding over an increase in violence during her time in the White House. He pledged to crack down on gangs, drug cartels and undocumented immigrants accused of crimes if reelected.

“In many ways we’re a Third World country,” he said. “… When I am president of the United States, we are not going to take it anymore.”

Fraternal Order of Police National Vice President Joe Gamaldi told The Charlotte Observer Trump’s speech was exactly what FOP members wanted to hear.

“It was refreshing to hear a leader in our country say he wants to fund our police departments,” he said. “We’ve had to suffer through the defund-the-police movement. We’ve had to suffer through the revolving door criminal justice system, and we’ve had to suffer through the worst war on cops that we’ve seen in a generation.”

Data show a more complicated picture of how crime rates have fared during the Biden-Harris administration. Violent crime is decreasing nationwide. But Charlotte’s reported more homicides in 2024, sparking concern among local lawmakers.

Trump repeated other familiar refrains during his nearly hourlong address, including personal attacks on President Joe Biden and insults about the current president’s golf game.

He called a North Carolina appeals court’s Friday decision in Robert Kennedy, Jr.’s suit to be removed from the state’s ballots a victory. That decision, though, means absentee by mail ballots are temporarily halted from being sent to voters. The ballots already have Kennedy’s name on them.

It was Trump’s fourth campaign visit to the state since President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign on July 21. North Carolina is seen as a battleground state, with four recent polls showing Trump leading Harris by just one point.

Trump spoke for a little less than an hour on a range of topics. He left the stage to the song “YMCA” by the Village People and chants of “Trump.”

On mandatory minimum sentences, after listing crimes allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants, Trump said he will “liberate” an America that’s been “taken over“ if reelected.

“They’re taking over,” he said. “… We are being conquered.”

Trump said he supports a mandatory minimum of 20 years for undocumented people who commit certain crimes. He said the immigrants’ home counties will pay for the cost through tariffs and cutting off foreign aid.

Trump said he’ll sign an executive order on day one calling for the elimination of drug cartels. He also claimed he worked out a deal with the Chinese president that China would sentence fentanyl dealers to death.

Trump said Harris endorsed “defunding the police,” and he referencing riots that occurred after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Trump claimed Democrats fear law enforcement.

“They’re afraid of the badge. They’re afraid of you people,” he told the crowd.

He then asked the crowd which nickname they like better, “sleepy Joe” or crooked Joe,” and then criticized President Joe Biden for being photographed so much on the beach.

Trump spoke on crime and homelessness, saying both are on the rise in major U.S. cities such as San Francisco, Baltimore and New York City.

He stated that if reelected he would launch a national task force targeting gangs and organized crime.

He also said he supports “a strong death penalty for anyone who kills a police officer.”

He was introduced by Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of the Police. Yoes told the crowd about the organization’s endorsement of Trump and that the former president stood with police when it wasn’t politically advantageous.

Trump started by saying that as the president he would always “back the blue.” The former president also received the FOP endorsement in 2016 and 2020.

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