On the eve of the Republican presidential debate, Vice President Joe Biden had harsh words for GOP front-runner Donald Trump, calling his rhetoric part of a “sick� message.

"I don't want anybody to be down right now about what's going on in the Republican Party," he said during a Hispanic Heritage Month event Tuesday night at the vice president's official residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington. He labeled Trump's anti-immigration stance "xenophobia" and "appealing to the baser side of human nature" but said such rhetoric "will not prevail."

Biden contended that Americans in general have a more welcoming view of immigrants, even though "it doesn't feel that way."

His remarks come amid weeks of questions about whether he might enter the 2016 presidential race. In an interview with Stephen Colbert last week, Biden said he was not sure he has the emotional stamina for a campaign after the death of his son Beau this spring.

Shifting his focus from Trump's speech in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, Biden reminded the crowd that Pope Francis -- whose inclusive message has proven popular -- would be visiting the U.S. next week.

"The single most popular man in the world," he said. "Why is he so popular? Because he says, in different ways and nations, 'Whatever you do unto the least of my brethren you do unto me.'"

"Trump and that stuff you're hearing on the other team" will pass, Biden said, adding that his opposition to Trump isn't a matter of partisanship.

"This isn't about Democrat-Republican,� Biden said. "It's about a sick message. This message has been tried on America many times before. We always, always, always, always, always overcome."

Donald Trump wrapped up his national security speech in 15 minutes Tuesday afternoon but offered few specifics on defense, foreign policy or related issues.

On the military, he said only that he planned to expand U.S. forces.

"We're gonna make our military so big and so strong and so great," he told a captivated crowd. "It will be so powerful that I don't think we're ever going to have to use it. Nobody's going to mess with us."

He also said that "the silent majority, believe me, is back," but insisted that voters won't stay silent because they're "disgusted" about what's happening in the U.S.

Some memorable moments from his speech:

On immigration:

"We have many problems in our country. One of them is immigration. There's tremendous crime. There's tremendous drugs pouring across the border ... going to Chicago, going to New York, going to L.A."

"We get the drugs, they get the money. The drug cartels are going wild; they cannot believe how stupid our country is."

"People just pour into the country. [Americans are] disgusted when a woman who's nine months pregnant walks into the country and has a baby and you have to take care of that baby for the next 85 years."

On his GOP opponents:

"They're never going to do anything with these countries. It's an instinct -- they don't have it. It's just going to be more of the same."

On veterans:

"We are going to make our country so great. We are going to make it strong. We are going to make it powerful. We are going to take care of our veterans."

Donald Trump's opening act aboard the battleship Iowa is a Latin jazz band, the L.A.-based Lucho & Friends.

The group's vocalist, Lucho Horna, is Latino. He told Erin McPike that Trump is "a great American."

Phil Dearing stood in a line Tuesday outside the Donald Trump event on the battleship Iowa in the Port of Los Angeles.

As Donald Trump continues stand at the top of the polls, a conservative group is looking to block his momentum in the Republican presidential primary.

Club for Growth, a fiscal conservative advocacy group, on Tuesday announced a $1-million ad buy in Iowa targeting the billionaire businessman.

In a pair of 30-second spots, set to begin airing later this week, the group looks to portray Trump's positions on issues such as taxes to healthcare as being more in step with Democrats than Republicans.

The ads also seek to use Trump's past rhetoric against him: "In many cases, I probably identify more as a Democrat," Trump says in a 2004 video clip spotlighted in one ad.

Trump, who travels to Los Angeles on Tuesday for a speech aboard the retired battleship Iowa, offered a rebuttal on Twitter.

Nancy Reagan personally invited the Republican field to Wednesday's debate at her late husband's presidential library. But she won't be there, Times columnist Robin Abcarian writes.

The 94-year-old former first lady will watch the GOP candidates praise her husband's legacy -- or parts of his legacy -- from her home.

Exactly how the candidates remember Reagan will say more about them than the former president, the Washington Post notes today. Reporters Phil Rucker and James Hohmann interviewed several candidates about Reagan and notice a few of Reagan's policies repeatedly left out of the discussion.

The Times' Cathleen Decker is out with a smart analysis of how California politicians are welcoming the Republican front-runner to the state for Wednesday's debate.

In web video and at planned protests, Democrats are eager to pile on Trump and his immigration plan however they can -- hoping to steal a bit of the spotlight.

Gavin Newsom's animated Trump video released Monday was a prime example, Decker writes.

"There is a political and media lesson here. Hall and Barragan and Newsom were fixed on Trump, of course, because he is where the cameras and the attention reside at this point in the campaign. (Newsom's attack on Trump's plans stood to get a lot more attention than his recent Twitter fight with another 2016 presidential candidate, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, currently residing at the bottom of the presidential polls.)"

In an event being billed as both a campaign rally and a fundraiser for a veterans group, Donald Trump travels to Los Angeles on Tuesday to deliver a speech onboard the battleship Iowa.

The rally comes a day before Republicans gather in Simi Valley for the second presidential debate of the 2016 campaign.

Trump, a billionaire businessman, is the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination.

But for all his lofty rhetoric, he's offered few specific policy proposals. Will that change in his speech Tuesday or at the debate?

The Times' Kurtis Lee has more.

A large coalition of immigrant rights groups is calling on the moderators of this week's Republican presidential debate to help tone down the heated rhetoric on illegal immigration that has dominated the GOP primary race.

In an open letter to CNN, which is hosting the debate, 62 pro-immigrant organizations from around the country voice concern about "the increasing hatred and vitriol being directed towards both people of color and the immigrant community by certain presidential candidates."

"The upcoming presidential debate will be a test as to how much leeway can be given to the language of hate," the letter says, while calling on moderators "to help bring back a civil debate."

Republican front-runner Donald Trump soared in the polls this summer after making immigration a focus of his campaign. Trump has drawn attention to several immigrants in the country illegally accused of committing crimes and has vowed to build a border wall and end automatic citizenship for children born to immigrants without legal status. He has called Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists.

The letter cites a recent attack on a Latino man in Boston in which the suspect may have cited Trump as an inspiration. That and other recent episodes are evidence that "these harmful words will turn into violence against our communities," the letter says.

Signed by groups including the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the National Immigration Law Center and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles, the letter also suggests a hashtag for those who will be tweeting the debate: #NoHateDebate.

When the crowded field of GOP candidates descends on Simi Valley for the debate Wednesday, they will be met with protesters from both sides of the immigration issue.

About four dozen organizations that support immigrants plan to rally outside the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where the debate is being held, according to Jorge-Mario Cabrera of CHIRLA.

They will be competing with protesters who have likely been happy with the tone of this summer's debate.

The second rally, organized by tea party and anti-immigration groups, will be centered on the need to revoke birthright citizenship, according to organizer Ted Hilton. He said he and others had been working for years to end the practice, which most believe is a right protected by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, with little results.

But this summer, they have watched happily as Trump has brought new attention to the issue.

"It probably is Donald Trump who has raised this," Hilton said. "We're just tapping into that."