Trump takes incendiary immigration views to the GOP faithful: Tycoon says he'd fine 'cunning' Mexico $100,000 for every illegal immigrant who crosses border in order to 'take back our country'

• Republican frontrunner spoke at events in Las Vegas and Phoenix, Arizona
• Railed against government of Mexico for 'sending' people 'they don't want'
• Said he would fine them $100,000 for every illegal border crossing
• But defended legal immigration, pointed out he is married to a Slovenian 
• Also pushed his credentials as a negotiator, and slammed current 'bad deals' by U.S. politicians including Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry
• Said he's 'militaristic', wants to dramatically increase defense spending 

By Daniel Bates In Las Vegas For Dailymail.com and Kieran Corcoran

Published: 16:56 EST, 11 July 2015 | Updated: 11:46 EST, 13 July 2015

Donald Trump has won over Republican voters with a pair of speeches to the party faithful, attacking the government of Mexico and outlining a plan to charge them $100,000 for every illegal immigrant who crosses the southern border.

The Republican presidential front-runner got round after round of applause at successive events in Las Vegas, Nevada and Phoenix, Arizona, at which he rounded on the Mexican government for allegedly 'pushing' undocumented immigrants to the U.S. to avoid dealing with them themselves.

Trump said that Mexico had been allowed to get away with the scheme because they are 'smart' and President Obama and his administration are 'stupid' - a situation which can only be fixed if he leads the charge to 'take back our country'.

Fiery: Trump, pictured above speaking in Phoenix, said that he would charge Mexico $100,000 for every illegal immigrant who entered the U.S. over their border, and claimed the Mexican government is 'pushing' them

Crowds: An estimated 3,500 people turned out to watch Trump speak in Arizona (above) having addressed a crowd in Las Vegas earlier that day 

At the second address in Phoenix, Trump unveiled his plan, under which he would hold the government responsible for those who crossed the border, and charge them a fee for each person.

He said: 'Every time Mexico - really intelligently - sends people over we charge Mexico $100,000 for every person they send over.

'Now they make so much money that that's peanuts. I could've made it much higher - but I'm nice. I'm in a good mood today'.

If Trump could enact the scheme, his proposed bill could spiral into the billions. According to the Pew Research Center, there are some 5.9million undocumented Mexicans in the country already, though it is difficult to judge the rate at which they are coming and going.

Although he had harsh words for undocumented entrants into the United States, Trump defended the rights of legal immigrants - and pointed out that he is married to one of them.

Trump on fire: The presidential candidate did not stint on his anti-immigration rhetoric at a speech to grassroots Republicans in Las Vegas

Protesters and supporters clash as Trump talks trade with Mexico

He even suggested liberalizing the system to get more 'great people' to the U.S. 

He said: 'I love legal immigration. I love it, i think it's great. My wife is a legal immigrant!

'She went through a whole long process, it's not easy. We should maybe make it easier and faster - which I think is fine - and we'll have great people come in.'

Trump is currently married to Melania Trump, a former model from Slovenia in Eastern Europe. She is his third wife. 

Speaking earlier in Las Vegas, he also revealed that he would scrap sanctions against Russia were he to become President - and said that he would ‘get along nicely’ with the country’s president Vladimir Putin.

That first speech was an important test for Trump as it was at FreedomFest, which bills itself as the largest libertarian conference in America with many delegates from the Tea Party wing.

Ally: To bolster his point, Trump brought Jamiel Shaw, right, on stage with him. Shaw's son was shot dead by an illegal immigrant in Los Angeles, and endorsed Trump's presidential ambitions

For over an hour, he charmed the crowd with jokes about his hair and cast himself as a tough negotiator in contrast to the ‘dumb’ leaders from the Democratic party.

The crowd cheered when he invited Jamiel Shaw onto the stage, a father from Los Angeles whose 17-year-old son was shot dead by an illegal immigrant. Shaw also went to Phoenix with Trump and spoke alongside him there.

In an emotional speech Shaw said that Trump ‘loves America’ and was ‘willing to sacrifice his life’ for his country and urged them to trust him.

He said: ‘He loves America. Why else would he be doing this?’

Trump needs to start building grassroots support if he is maintain his first-place position in the polls among Republicans for the 2016 Presidential race.

Blunt: Trump, who spoke in front of a large backdrop of his own face, is riding high in the polls compared to the other Republican candidates

His blunt talk on immigration has propelled him to 15 per cent of the vote, past Jeb Bush who is at 11 per cent, according to the Economist.

But Trump brushed off his rival saying: 'I don't see him as a factor'. 

So FreedomFest at the Planet Hollywood Casino and Resort in Las Vegas, a five day conference attended by 2,000 people, was a crucial test.

Trump threw red meat to the audience and won rounds of applause when he said that the Tea Party had been ‘disparaged for years’.

They clapped when he said that Obamacare, the President’s signature healthcare law, was a ‘disaster’ and that veterans were treated like ‘third class citizens’.

Trump suggested that Mexico was deliberately sending its criminals to the US so that they don’t have to pay for them to be kept in jail.

He likened its policy to the Mariel boatlift out of Cuba in 1980 when more than 100,000 Cubans claimed asylum in the US.

He said: ‘I love the Mexican people. I loved the spirit of the Mexican people. I respect Mexico. The problem is their leaders are much smarter than our leaders. Their negotiatiors are much tougher than our negotiators.

‘They are much more cunning. And they kill us at the border. People flow through like water. And they send people through that they don’t want.

‘Do you remember the old days with (Fidel) Castro where he emptied his jails and sent them all to the United States? Well Mexico does similar things in a much more sophisticated manner’.

Trump also batted away a question from a Roberto Salinas, the President of the Mexico Business Forum, who said he was ‘insulted’ by his xenophobic rhetoric.

Salinas asked sarcastically if Trump going to put a wall around each of the 50 states to stop American rapists and killers from roaming around.

Trump responded by jokingly asking if the government of Mexico had sent him. He repeated the jibe in Phoenix after opponents tried to interrupt him. 

Among the few who spoke out against Trump was Linda Rawls, 56, a wine bar owner from Carefree, Arizona who held up a sign outside the ballroom saying: 'Trump is not a libertarian'.

Crowds: Hundreds turned up to Trump's speech at the libertarian FreedomFest event

Crowd: The candidate posted an image of supporters who turned out to see him at a similar speech that day in Arizona

You're Hired: People rally during a campaign event for U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday

Defense: Although he had harsh words for undocumented entrants into the United States, Trump defended the rights of legal immigrants - and pointed out that he is married to one of them while in Phoenix

She told Daily Mail Online: 'I think he taps into the two worst things about American politics; the politics of hate and fear and the cult of personality as a loudmouth savior. He's everything that's bad about American politics'.

Rawls added: 'Trump is no libertarian. He's used eminent domain to build his hotels and he's a hawk; most libertarians are non interventionist.'

Another delegate called Lucia Duncan, who described herself as a Mexican American, interrupted and said: 'Trump is my hero'.

Trump has been courting controversy since he launched his Presidential campaign last month with a speech in which he claimed Mexico was sending criminals across the border.

He said: 'When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending the best. They're not sending you, they're sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems.

'They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime. They're rapists and some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to border guards and they're telling us what we're getting.'

Trump's comments sparked intense criticism from immigrants rights groups, prominent Hispanic celebrities and rival presidential candidates from his own party.

But, given the chance the take back his remarks, Trump has double and tripled down.

Trump defends remarks that Mexican immigrants are criminals

He told CNN's Don Lemon that immigrants were sexually assaulting people and said to him: 'Who's doing the raping? Somebody's doing the raping'.

In a separate interview with Anderson Cooper he said that Mexico 'pushes back people across the border that are criminals, that are drug dealers'.

His Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, also retweeted the message: '#JebBush has to like the Mexican Illegals because of his wife'.

In his speech at FreedomFest Trump unveiled details of his foreign policy after a question from a Russian woman.

He claimed that President Obama has driven Russia and China together because of ‘incompetent leadership’.

He said: ‘Everybody hates us. I know Putin and I get along with Putin. Putin has no respect for President Obama. Big problem.

‘I believe I would get along very nicely with Putin. I don’t think you’d need the sanctions. I think that we would get along very well. I think that we would get along very well with countries that we don’t get along with today’.

Hype: In Phoenix, Trump spoke in front of a huge U.S. flag, backed by supporters with banners

Trump said that more than anything voters were ‘just tired of incompetent leadership’.

He said: ‘I think what people want today is competence. We’re done with the nice stuff. I think Jeb Bush is nice, I think he’s a nice person. He’s not going to take us to the Promised Land.

‘Hillary is a nice person. Sort of. She’s a little rough around the edges. She’s not going to get us there’.

Trump also outlined ambitions to drastically expand the military, describing himself as a 'militaristic' person.

He said: 'We need to build up our military.. I'm in the real estate business, and all the time I get listing for military bases - and I said "What are we doing?"'

Trump continued: 'We need to take back the heart of our country... we have to bring back our military.'

He said: 'I am more for the military - I am the most militaristic person in this room. I would have a military so strong we would never have to use it. People would say "No way we're messing with them!"'

Later in the speech he turned to ISIS and reminded his supporters that he had urged the U.S. to stay out of Iraq in 2004 - but said that once the army was in they should have seized Iraqi oil reserves.

Of ISIS, he said: 'These people make Saddam Hussein look like a choirboy - and I said this in 2004.

Watchers: Members of the crowd, some of whom appear unimpressed, are pictured above watching Trump

'I said keep the oil! Everyone said "you can't keep the oil, it's a sovereign country", I said keep the oil! We're in there now, you blew it, you shouldn't have gone in.'

'I'm the only one that said no, keep the oil I said. Don't leave, keep the oil because if you don't get it Iran will get it. So here's who has it, iran is taking it, ISIS has it.

And ISIS now is building a hotel in Iraq - they're competing with me.'

He also used his Phoenix speech as an opportunity to trumpet his credentials as a strong negotiator, claiming he could get much better results for the U.S. on the international stage.

He criticized trade deals with Mexico and Japan, and as well as the recent nuclear agreement with Iran. He mocked Secretary of State John Kerry for breaking his leg during the negotiations after falling off of his bicycle.

Trump also turned on the controversial hostage swap the Obama administration made to reclaim Bowe Bergdahl from the Taliban.

Trump termed Bergdahl a 'traitor' in light of accusations he had deserted his post, then lambasted Obama for releasing five jihadist leaders in exchange for him.

He said: 'They get five killers who now are back on the battlefield, and these are the five people they most wanted'.

Fans: Rows of watchers also applauded Trump during the address at the Planet Hollywood casino

The five hostages swapped for Berghdahl are in fact under State Department surveillance in Qatar.

Nonetheless, Trump used the deal to term Obama a 'five-for-one president', asking 'Who would make a deal like this?'

Turning to the next crop of candidates, Trump seemed to see little better prospects from them.

He asked the crowd: 'Who would you rather have negotiating a trade deal? Trump or Hillary?... Who would you rather have negotiate a really good deal with China, Mexico, Japan? Trump or Jeb Bush?'

Trump's outspoken views have not gone without consequence, despite his bravado.

Do Trumps immigration comments echo the Republican Party?

After his declaration speech Univision, the biggest Spanish language channel in the Americas, refused to broadcast the Miss USA contest, which Trump runs and hosts.

NBC, which was to broadcast the show, did the same and severed ties with Trump.

The TV network said that Trump will not be appearing on the next series of The Apprentice, where he was a judge.

Macy's also said it will no longer sell his clothing line, which his critics have pointed out is made in China.

In his speech Trump claimed Univision only ditched him because the Mexican government ‘put the clamps’ on the company.

He also said that NBC severed its ties with him because they were ‘angry’ that he could not do another season of The Apprentice because he was running for president.

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