Trump on attack over border policies
Vows deportation push in campaign speech
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Donald Trump again used language denounced by Democrats to hammer President Joe Biden over his handling of the U.s.-mexico border on Tuesday as he campaigned in two Midwestern swing states likely to be critical to the outcome of the 2024 election.
Trump, who has accused migrants of “poisoning the blood of the country” and vowed to launch the largest domestic deportation operation in the country’s history if he wins a second term, delivered a speech in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in which he accused Biden of allowing a “bloodbath” that was “destroying the country.” The former president referred to immigrants in the U.S. illegally suspected of committing crimes as “animals.”
“Under Crooked Joe Biden, every state is now a border state. Every town is now a border town,” Trump said at the Devos Place, where he stood flanked by law enforcement officers in uniform before a line of flags.
Trump and other Republicans have seized on several high-profile crimes alleged to have been committed by immigrants in the U.S. illegally to attack Biden as illegal border crossings have hit record highs. Polls suggest Trump has an advantage over Biden on immigration issues as many prospective voters say they’re concerned about the impact of the crossings.
Trump continued to hammer the theme at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Tuesday evening as the state was holding its presidential primaries. Trump accused rogue nations of “pumping migrants across our wide open border.”
On Tuesday, Trump focused on the killing of Ruby Garcia, a Michigan woman who was found dead 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.
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 been deported following a drunken driving arrest.
Trump had told a conservative Michigan radio host on Monday that he’d “love to have” members of Garcia’s family attend his speech “if they’d like to be there — it’d be in my honor.”
While they did not appear to have taken him up on the offer, Trump said in his remarks that he had spoken to some of her family.
Garcia’s sister, Mavi, however, disputed his account, telling FOX 17 that they had not.
“No, he did not speak with us,” the outlet said she told them in a text message, declining to comment further.
She also pleaded on Facebook last week for reporters to stop politicizing her sister’s story, and on Wednesday asked for privacy, saying she only wanted “justice to be served” and to “be left alone.”