Former President Donald Trump in a Michigan campaign appearance Tuesday called the waves of migrants entering the U.S. at the southern border under the Biden administration "country changing."
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, flanked by several law enforcement officers, listed several criminal cases involving suspects in the country illegally and warned that such violence and chaos would consume America if he did not win the Nov. 5 election.
While speaking of Laken Riley — a 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia allegedly murdered by a Venezuelan immigrant in the country illegally — Trump said some immigrants are "animals."
"The Democrats say, 'Please don't call them animals, they're humans.' I said, 'No, they're not humans, they're not humans, they're animals,'" said Trump.
During stump speeches, Trump frequently claims that immigrants crossing the border with Mexico illegally have escaped from prisons and asylums in their home countries and are fueling violent crime in the United States.
Available data on criminals' immigration status is sparse.
Biden blames Trump for encouraging Republicans not to pass legislation in Congress this year that would have beefed up security at the southern border and introduced new measures aimed at reducing illegal immigration.
"Donald Trump is engaging in extreme rhetoric that promotes division, hate and violence in our country," Michael Tyler, Biden campaign communications director, told reporters on Tuesday ahead of Trump's speech.
Trump delivered his speech, titled "Biden's border bloodbath" in the city of Grand Rapids, where police said 25-year-old Ruby Garcia was murdered last month in her car by Brandon Ortiz-Vite, 25, who she was dating. Ortiz-Vite was in the country illegally, police said.
The murders of Garcia and Riley have allowed Trump's campaign to simultaneously play to fears among some Americans about violent crime and immigration.
Some 38% of Republicans cited immigration as the country's top issue in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released in late February, as did about one in five independents.
Trump frequently claims that migrants have caused a spike in violent crime in U.S. cities. On Tuesday, he repeated his claim that Latin American nations are intentionally sending their criminals into the United States.
This report contains material from Reuters.
© 2024 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.