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LOS ANGELES – Republican presidential contender Donald Trump vowed Tuesday to offer frustrated veterans subsidized private health care, charging that immigrants in the country illegally receive better care than the nation’s wounded soldiers.

The comments, delivered aboard a retired World War II battleship in Los Angeles harbor, came on the eve of the second Republican presidential debate in nearby Simi Valley.

“We have illegal immigrants that are treated better by far than our veterans,” Trump declared. “It’s not going to happen anymore.”

The Republican front-runner gave no details on how he would pay for an expansion in the armed forces – or veterans’ health care – leaving his foreign policy agenda still mostly a blank slate.

Dozens of protesters gathered in the parking lot adjacent to the battleship, periodically chanting, “He’s a racist.”