Trump escalates immigration rhetoric, accusing Biden of causing border ‘bloodbath’
JOEY CAPPELLETTI, ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON and JILL COLVIN April 2, 2024
Donald Trump escalated his inflammatory rhetoric about immigration Tuesday, accusing President Biden of unleashing a bloodbath at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump has previously accused migrants of poisoning the blood of the country and vowed to launch the largest
domestic
deportation operation in the nation’s history if he wins a second term. His latest comments came as he campaigned in two midwestern swing states likely to be critical to the outcome of the 2024 election.
In Michigan, he referred to immigrants in the U.S. illegally
who are
suspected of committing crimes as animals, using dehumanizing language that those who study extremism
have
warn
ed
increases the risk of violence.
Every town is now a border town, because Joe Biden has brought the carnage and chaos and killing from all over world and dumped it straight into our backyards, Trump said in Grand Rapids, where he stood flanked by law enforcement officers in uniform before a line of flags.
While violent crime is down,
according to the FBI,
Trump and other Republicans have seized on several high-profile crimes alleged to have been committed by immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Polls suggest many prospective voters
aresay theyre
concerned about the impact of border crossings.
Trump continued to hammer the theme
Tuesday evening
at a rally in Green Bay, Wis.,
Tuesday evening
as the state was holding its presidential primaries. Trump accused rogue nations of pumping migrants across our wide-open border” and sending prisoners, murders, drug dealers, mental patients, terrorists” though there is no evidence any country is engaged in that kind of coordinated effort.
Trump on Tuesday focused on the killing of Ruby Garcia, a Michigan woman who was found dead
March 22
on the side of a Grand Rapids highway
on March 22
. Police say she was in a romantic relationship with the suspect, Brandon Ortiz-Vite. He told police he shot her multiple times during an argument before dropping her body on the side of the road and driving off in her red Mazda.
Trump incorrectly referred to the 25-year-old Garcia as a 17-year-old.
Authorities say Ortiz-Vite is a citizen of Mexico and had previously been deported following a drunken driving arrest. He does not have an attorney listed in court records.
Garcias sister, Mavi, disputed Trump’s assertion Tuesday that he had spoken to
memberssome
of her family, according to FOX 17.
No, he did not speak with us, FOX 17 said she told them in a text message, declining to comment further.
She pleaded on Facebook last week for reporters to stop politicizing her sisters story and on Tuesday asked for privacy, saying she only wanted justice to be served and to be left alone.
Trump
also
again mentioned the killing of Laken Riley, a nursing student in Georgia. A Venezuelan man who officials say entered the U.S. illegally has been charged. Rileys family attended Trumps rally in Georgia last month and met with him backstage.
Trump referred to the suspect in Riley’s death as an illegal alien animal.
The Democrats say, Please dont call them animals. Theyre humans. I said, No, theyre not humans, theyre not humans, theyre animals, he said.
FBI statistics show
overall
that violent crime dropped again in the U.S. last year, continuing a downward trend after a pandemic-era spike. In Michigan, violent crime hit a three-year low in 2022, according to the most recent available data. Crime in Michigans largest city, Detroit, is also down, with the fewest homicides last year since 1966.
Top Republicans from across Michigan
had
packed into a conference room in downtown Grand Rapids to hear Trump speak in a county he won in 2016 but lost to Biden in 2020. Outside the event center,
more thanover
100 supporters stood in
the
cold rain to line the street where Trumps motorcade was expected to pass.
At a nearby park, a small group advocating for immigration reform gathered to hold a moment of silence for Garcia while holding signs that read No human being is illegal and Michigan welcomes immigrants.
In Green Bay, some supporters braved snowfall for three hours
outside
to enter the venue.
Bidens campaign which has been hammering Trump for his role in killing a bipartisan border deal that would have added more than 1,500
new
Customs and Border Protection personnel, in addition to other restrictions
on immigration
preempted the speech by accusing Trump of politicizing the woman’s death.
Tomorrow, Donald Trump is coming to Grand Rapids, where he is expected to once again try to politicize a tragedy and sow hate and division to hide from his own record of failing Michiganders, said Alyssa Bradley, the Biden campaigns Michigan communications director.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said Monday that there is a real problem on our southern border and that its really critical that Congress and the president solve the problem.
There was a solution on the table. It was actually the former president that encouraged Republicans to walk away from getting it done, Whitmer said. I dont have a lot of tolerance for political points when it continues to endanger our economy and, to some extent, our people, as we saw play out in Grand Rapids recently.
Associated Press writer Cappelletti reported from Grand Rapids, Gomez Licon from Green Bay and Colvin from New York. AP writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wis., and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.
