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Locals react to Donald Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention

Posted at 8:24 PM, Jul 23, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-23 20:24:43-04

Donald Trump spoke for more than an hour Thursday night as he accepted the Republican party's nomination for president.

On Friday, people around Palm Beach County re-read the words he spoke.

"When I am president, I will ensure that all of our children are treated equally and protected equally," Trump said Thursday night.

Paris Baptiste read these words aloud Friday afternoon. She said she was in disbelief when she saw them.

"It was a very unbelievable statement being that I am both a mother and an educator and I see every day the gap between the haves and the have nots,'" Baptiste said.

Another excerpt from his speech read, "The number of illegal families that have already crossed the border this year has exceeded the total from 2015."

Juliana Mercado said those words really stung.

She immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia and eventually became a naturalized citizen.

"He's making it seem like our community is bad, we're all illegal. We're all out here to harm other people. There's a lot of us here that are trying to bring a lot of great things to this country," she said.

John Kazanjian is the president of the Police Benevolent Association of Palm Beach County.

After hearing Trump's speech, he said he's on board with what Trump had to say.

He read this excerpt out loud, "The first task for our new administration is to liberate our citizens from the crime and terrorism and lawlessness that threatens their communities."

"He protects the police officers, and thank God for that. We need somebody to stand up for us," Kazanjian said. "I would definitely give him a shot, because the last eight years -- it hasn't worked."

Andy Amoroso, the first openly gay city commissioner in Palm Beach County, read another excerpt from Trump's speech.

"I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence of oppression, and the hateful foreign ideology."

But Amoroso doesn't buy it.

"We've been discriminated against all my life.  I'm 51 years old, so it's nothing new. But personally, I don't believe him. Everyone that is a little different , everyone that is brown, gay, straight, of a different religion are discriminated against on a daily basis. He's probably better off not saying it than trying to say it and saying it wrong," Amoroso said.