Latino community leaders and activists stood with Mayor Martin J. Walsh Saturday morning in East Boston and said together in a resounding voice: Latinos need not be afraid here.

With the Nov. 7 election inching closer and the Sept. 26 primary only weeks away, Walsh did not mince words at the official “Latinos for Walsh’’ kickoff event held on Saratoga Street.

“Donald Trump is a descendant of immigrants,’’ Walsh said, standing in the downstairs area of the building that housed his East Boston campaign headquarters during his 2013 mayor run. “Donald Trump’s son? His mother was an immigrant. How can you disrespect somebody who brought a son into this world for you by saying immigrants are bad?’’

The mayor, whose strongest competition comes from City Councilor Tito Jackson, who lives in Dorchester, is also running against two candidates from East Boston: Joseph Wiley, a MassHealth customer service representative who tried to challenge Mayor Thomas Menino in 2009, and Robert Cappucci, an ex-Boston police officer and teacher who has said he’s unsuccessfully run for office six time before.

Later, armed with posters, stickers, door hangers, and buttons, volunteers streamed out of the house, ready to knock on doors “para el alcalde.’’

“We need him now more than ever,’’ said Sebastiana Montero, a member of Local 26, speaking in Spanish.

The 69-year-old from Brighton said that she’s happy to volunteer for Walsh and that as she does so, she’ll be thinking of her co-workers, “thinking of the entire Hispanic community, all the Latinos, all the immigrants.’’

“The fear and the terror of deportation, that many people feel, including people in my own family — you can’t live like that. We need tranquility, happiness, so we can work in this country that gave us liberty,’’ Montero said.

After firing Health and Human Services chief Felix G. Arroyo, following allegations that he sexually harassed a woman he was supervising, Walsh has no Latinos in his Cabinet — but that does not bother Gisela Delgado, 41, of Revere.

“I think it’s more important that the people in charge be conscientious, respectful, and loyal — loyal to the people,’’ Delgado said, speaking in Spanish. “Honest with themselves, and loyal to the people, the community.’’

“Hispanic representation is very important,’’ Jose Alvarez, 42, of East Boston said in Spanish. “We need more Hispanics to get involved with [Walsh’s] administration and to help out, because that’s how you become a politician.

“To get a job in City Hall, you have to be there, you have to show support,’’ he said.

Walsh, who said he will decide on Arroyo’s replacement “shortly,’’ called his Cabinet the most diverse in the history of Boston.

“I’d put my office up against any mayor before me,’’ Walsh told a Globe reporter after the event. “. . . In my first four years, 50 percent, roughly, of the people I’ve hired are diverse.’’

Walsh said he’s working to ensure all groups have representation at City Hall, including African-Americans, Cape Verdeans, and Haitians, among others.

“We’re not looking at this as people of color all in one kind of number, we’re looking at all of the different people of color in the different groups, different ethnic backgrounds, and we’re looking at it and we’re going to continue to do work,’’ he said.

Calling the recent incident in Somerville where fliers bearing the words “ICE is coming for you!’’ were found near a school with a sizable Latino population “disgraceful,’’ Walsh said his plans for the Latino community right now consist of making people safe and secure.

“That type of fear is something we don’t want in this country,’’ Walsh said. “And I would question the person that made that flier up, look in the mirror and tell me how American you are by doing that.’’

Aimee Ortiz can be reached at aimee.ortiz@globe.com.