Former President Donald Trump delivered a fiery speech at a packed rally inside Nassau Coliseum on Wednesday night, marking his first campaign event on Long Island. The former president focused heavily on immigration, which has become a central theme of his 2024 campaign, decrying what he described as the decline of American cities under Democratic leadership.

“We’re destroying the fabric of life in our country, and we’re not going to take it any longer,” Trump told the crowd in Uniondale. He promised to “get rid of these people” in reference to undocumented immigrants, while also pledging to carry out “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country” if re-elected in November, though he did not offer specific details on how the operation would be executed.

Trump also sharply criticized Democratic officials in New York City and the state, blaming them for what he called “horrible, disgusting, dangerous, filthy encampments” of homeless people and “squalid and unsafe” conditions in the New York City subway system, which he vowed to overhaul if given the chance.

“Businesses are fleeing, money is draining out of your state, and hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants are sucking your public resources dry,” Trump warned, as he called on voters to support his platform.

The rally came just days after an alleged second assassination attempt on Trump in Florida. Despite the threat, large crowds gathered outside the venue hours ahead of the event, with many attendees arriving 11 hours before the former president took the stage.