PRESIDENTIAL RACE | Trump suggests immigrants allowed in illegally to vote

NEW YORK (AP) — Seizing on comments from a Border Patrol union leader, Donald Trump said today that agents have been told to allow immigrants into the United States illegally "so they can vote in the election."

But he offered no evidence to support his most recent claim that presidential voting may be tainted by fraud.

In a round table on border security, Trump responded to comments from Art Del Cueto, a vice president for the National Border Patrol Council, who told the candidate that officials in the U.S. are being directed to ignore immigrants' criminal histories and speed up citizenship applications.

"That's a massive story," Trump responded, saying it would be ignored by the media. "They are letting people pour into the country so they can go ahead and vote."

Neither Del Cueto nor Trump offered evidence to back up the idea immigration officials are taking action to allow people who have recently crossed the border to cast ballots on Election Day. Newly admitted immigrants are not permitted to vote, a right that is reserved for citizens.

Union spokesman Shawn Moran, who attended the round table, later said the discussion between the candidate and the union leader was misleading.

Border Patrol agents have indeed seen an increase in attempts to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, Moran said. And union officials believe that United States Citizen and Immigration Service is working to speed up processing of citizenship applications before the November election. Moran said the discussion "combined" the two separate issues.