“How many folks here got a little Irish in them?” Obama asked. “There was a time they were talking about the Irish just like Mr. Trump is talking about Mexicans right now.

“How many Italians,” Obama continued. “They were talking about you, too.”

Referring to a proposal from the former reality television star to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to keep undocumented immigrants from entering the country on foot from Mexico, Obama said that America’s “greatness doesn’t come from walls, it comes from opportunity.”

The line appeared to sideswipe the Trump campaign’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.