By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and JILL COLVIN (Associated Press)
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Donald Trump once more used language condemned by Democrats to attack President Joe Biden's management of the U.S.-Mexico border on Tuesday as he campaigned in two midwestern swing states crucial for 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, where he accused Biden of allowing a “bloodbath” that was “destroying the country.” He also referred to immigrants in the U.S. illegally suspected of committing crimes as “animals,” using dehumanizing language.
“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.
While violent crime has decreased, Trump and other Republicans have highlighted several high-profile crimes allegedly committed by immigrants in the U.S. illegally to criticize Biden as illegal border crossings have reached record levels. Polls indicate that Trump has an advantage over Biden on immigration issues as many potential voters express concern about the impact of the crossings.
Trump will hold a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Wednesday evening as the state holds its presidential primaries.
Trump on Tuesday 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 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.
Trump had told conservative Michigan radio host Justin Barclay 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 or privacy, saying she only wanted “justice to be served” and to “be left alone.”
In his remarks, Trump also again mentioned the killing of Laken Riley, a nursing student in Georgia, for which a Venezuelan man is charged. Riley’s family went to Trump’s gathering in Georgia previous month and encountered him behind the scenes.
Trump called the person responsible for Riley’s death an “unlawful alien animal.”
“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,’” he said.
FBI data demonstrates overall violent crime decreased again in the U.S. last year, extending a downward trend after a pandemic-era spike. In Michigan, violent crime reached a three-year low in 2022, the most recent available data. Crime in Michigan’s largest city, Detroit, is also down, with the fewest homicides last year since 1966.
Leading Republicans from throughout Michigan had filled a conference room in downtown Grand Rapids to listen to Trump talk in a county he won in 2016 but lost to Biden in 2020. Outside the event center, over 100 supporters endured a cold rain to line the street where Trump’s motorcade was expected to pass.
At a nearby park, a small group advocating for immigration reform gathered to have a moment of silence for Garcia while holding signs that read “No person is illegal” and “Michigan welcomes immigrants.”
Biden’s campaign, which has been criticizing 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, preempted the speech by accusing Trump of politicizing the 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 campaign’s Michigan communications director.
On Tuesday, the White House emphasized that immigration is a positive for the U.S. economy. They argued that recent gains in immigration have helped to boost employment and sustained growth as the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates to bring down inflation.
“We know immigrants strengthen our country and also strengthen our economy,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Tuesday’s briefing, noting that immigrants were the ones doing the “critical work” on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore when it collapsed after being struck by a ship.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said Monday that there is “a real problem on our southern border” and that it’s “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 don’t 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.”
Trump has been embracing provocative language about the surge of migrants at the southern border. He has depicted migrants as “poisoning the blood of the country,” questioned whether some should even be considered people, and claimed, without evidence, that countries have been emptying their prisons and mental asylums into the U.S.
He has also Biden was accused and Democrats were blamed for attempting to 'destroy the American system, invalidate the decision of the real American voters and create a new source of power that allows them to have control for a long time.'
