New York, New York - Donald Trump headed into hostile territory Thursday for a rare rally in deeply democratic New York, as he hopes to woo Black and Latino voters whose support for Joe Biden has shown signs of faltering.

The event, in an area where the Republican ex-president triumphed in 2020, follows a recent trend of Trump holding events in red areas of traditionally blue states, most recently in New Jersey and Minnesota.

But his speech in the South Bronx is more about demonstrating that he can draw large crowds among the Hispanics and African American coalitions, which are seen as crucial to Biden's hopes of retaining the White House.

In his first rally in his former hometown since 2016, Trump will focus on crime and tough economic conditions in one of the most Democratic and diverse US neighborhoods, where almost two-thirds of residents are Hispanic, and one-third are Black.

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Around 10,000 people signed up to attend the event in Crotona Park, although the Trump campaign's permit is for 3,500 people, according to US media outlets.

The Trump team did not respond to a request for details on the rally, but a campaign spokeswoman told The Hill that New York state had been "decimated" by Biden.

"President Trump will ease the financial pressures placed on households and re-establish law and order in New York," she said.

The rally caps a turbulent period for Trump, who has been kept off the campaign trail by his criminal trial in Manhattan for allegedly falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments made to cover up a sex scandal.

When the rally was arranged, the tycoon had been anticipating another week in New York as proceedings drew to a close – although the judge sent the jury home on Tuesday for a week-long break.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an outspokenly liberal Democratic congresswoman whose district includes parts of the Bronx, said Trump was rallying in the borough "because he's got the legal version of an ankle bracelet... truly an embarrassment to him."

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New York State last voted for a Republican president when Ronald Reagan was reelected in 1984.

Biden, who won almost 85% of the vote in the Bronx in 2020, has been touting his accomplishments for both Hispanic and Black communities, such as homeownership and economic opportunity, lowering child poverty, and expanding voting rights and healthcare, but he continues to lose support from both communities.

Recent polling has shown Trump making inroads with Black and Hispanic Americans, particularly younger voters who are increasingly unengaged in politics, and those who blame Biden over a surge in illegal immigration at the Mexico border.

The Biden campaign released an ad ahead of the rally focusing on the 1970s and 80s New York racial controversies surrounding Trump, who was sued for refusing to rent apartments to Black families and called for the execution of five innocent Black and Latino teenagers wrongly blamed in a notorious rape.

The Trump campaign countered that his opponent was panicking because "Black voters aren't buying what Biden is selling."

"Black voters, like all Americans, are worse-off now than they were under President Trump and every poll reflects that reality," said spokeswoman Janiyah Thomas.