Photo

Donald J. Trump, looking to amass as many votes as possible in the South Carolina primary, is increasingly trying to appeal to the state’s black voters. In doing so, he appears to hope that any memory of his 2011 demand to see the birth certificate of the nation’s first black president is a distant one.

At a news conference on Monday in South Carolina, where residents can vote in either party’s primary, Mr. Trump handled a question about undocumented immigrants, many of whom are Hispanic, by bemoaning the plight of African-Americans under President Obama.

“I’m a unifier,” Mr. Trump said. “Obama is not a unifier.”

The candidate whose campaign pillar has been taking a hard line on undocumented immigrants and who has used caustic language about Mexicans turned to a woman who asked him about “Dreamers,” the term used for children of undocumented immigrants who were not brought to the country of their own volition. “I want dreamers to come from this country,” Mr. Trump said.

“You mentioned Dreamers,” he added. “I want the children that are growing up in the United States to be dreamers also. They’re not dreaming.”

He quickly added, “You look at African-American youth — I mean, 58 percent unemployment.”

“We have an African-American president and he has not done anything for the African-Americans in this country, and he got a free pass and he shouldn’t have,” Mr. Trump said. “Because if that was me, or if it was somebody else, we would be, we would be taken over the coals, believe me.”

He went on: “You look at African-Americans that are 30 years old, 40 years old, 50 years old. Take a look at their statistics, it’s very sad.”

Mr. Trump’s hopes of appealing to black voters was clear in an ad he began running in the state on Friday evening, featuring an endorsement from Jamiel Shaw Sr., a black man whose 17-year-old son, Jas, was killed in Los Angeles almost a decade ago by an undocumented immigrant. Mr. Trump has mentioned the case repeatedly, and Mr. Shaw has made campaign appearances with the candidate. The ad features a picture of Jas and one of his killer.

The outcry over Mr. Trump’s incendiary comments has focused almost entirely around his remarks about immigration and Mexicans since announcing his campaign in June. He has almost entirely avoided discussing the “birther” claim he rode to great effect against Mr. Obama five years ago. He found a new target for his questions of presidential legitimacy in Senator Ted Cruz, who was born in Canada and whom Mr. Trump has threatened to sue. This shift in focus has in effect eroded the memories of his claims over Mr. Obama’s birth certificate.

Mr. Trump has also long believed, aides said, that he will do better among black voters than people think.

In Manchester, N.H., last Monday, the day before the New Hampshire primary, Mr. Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, predicted his boss would do well in South Carolina, previewing the strategy.

“Don’t forget: There is no party registration, anybody can go in and vote,” Mr. Lewandowski said, adding that the campaign was already doing voter-identification calls to try to identify potential black supporters in the state. “Whether you guys believe it or not, Trump does well, exceptionally well, with the African-American population.”

Jonathan Martin contributed reporting.