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 The billionaire businessman was forced to halt his motorcade and
go through a back entrance to a hotel to give a speech to the
California Republican convention and avoid several hundred loud
protesters gathered outside.
"That was not the easiest entrance I've ever made," Trump told the
gathering in Burlingame, south of San Francisco, after weaving
around a barrier and clambering across a road to get to the venue.
"It felt like I was crossing the border actually."
Demonstrators, some of whom held Mexican national flags, at one
point rushed security gates at the hotel and police officers had
their batons out.
The mogul had already drawn protests in California, with chaotic
scenes on Thursday outside a Trump rally in Costa Mesa. Anti-Trump
protesters smashed the window of a police car and blocked traffic.
Some 20 people were arrested.
Protests have become common outside rallies for Trump who has earned
ardent critics, as well as support from Republican voters, for his
rhetoric against illegal immigration. His campaign abandoned a rally
in Chicago last month after clashes between his supporters and
protesters.
 He has accused Mexico of sending drug dealers and rapists across the
U.S. border and has promised to build a wall and make Mexico pay for
it.
Trump, who described himself this week as the party's presumptive
nominee, would take a large stride toward knocking his Republican
rivals out of the presidential race if he wins the Indiana primary
next week.
On Friday, he said he is approaching the 1,237 delegates needed to
clinch the nomination.
Trump, who has run as a political outsider and only recently started
making inroads with the Republican establishment, called for the
party to band together behind him. But said he could win the White
House without them if needed.
"There should be and there has to be unity. Now with that being
said, would I win, can I win without it? I think so, to be honest,"
Trump told the convention. His speech drew applause, though not the
fervent reception of his usual campaign rallies.
INDIANA FIGHT
Trump's main rival, Senator Ted Cruz, on Friday picked up the
backing of Governor Mike Pence of Indiana in a rearguard battle to
damage Trump's chances.
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"I'm not against anybody, but I will be voting for Ted Cruz in the
upcoming Republican primary," Pence said on an Indiana radio show.
Cruz, from Texas, is trailing the former reality TV star in the
Midwestern state after losing to him by a wide margin in all five
Northeastern states that held nominating contests on Tuesday.
A CBS poll earlier this week found Trump with about 40 percent of
support in Indiana, compared to 35 percent for Cruz. The poll had a
margin of error of 6.6 points. Other polls have also shown Trump
ahead.
The Republican front-runner was in California ahead of its June 7
primary, when the most convention delegates of the Republican
nominating cycle will be at stake.
After his speech, Trump made a similarly unconventional exit out of
the hotel via the back door.
Cheryl McDonald, 71, of Discovery Bay, said she had to pass through
protesters to get inside the hotel.
"They were yelling. I think the only words they know in the
dictionary are profanities," said McDonald, who said she is a Trump
supporter.
Ohio Governor John Kasich, a distant third in the race for the
party's nomination, distanced himself from what he said was a
divisive campaign that preyed on voters' fears.
"I'm worried about a divided, polarized country," Kasich said. "It
doesn't have to be that way."
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Timothy Ahmann in Washington and
Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Writing by Emily Stephenson; Editing
by Richard Valdmanis, Alistair Bell and Kim Coghill)
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