Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric in a Michigan speech aimed at President Joe Biden’s handling of the US-Mexico border, spotlighting instances of violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants and again referring to those perpetrators as “not humans” and “animals.”
Trump spent the entirety of his speech in the key battleground state stoking fears about undocumented immigrants as he sought to directly tie migrants to an increase in crime in the US, despite many researchers finding no connection between immigration and crime. He also linked an uptick in illegal immigration to the spread of contagious disease.
Describing migrants coming across the border as “military-age” men, Trump said: “This is country changing, it's country threatening, and it's country wrecking. They have wrecked our country.”
Trump also embraced the use of the word “bloodbath” to describe Biden’s border policies, again using the term that drew criticism for Democrats when he recently deployed it to warn about the future of the auto industry and country under a second Biden term.
Trump vowed to “deliver justice” to Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student whose suspected killer is an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela, and Ruby Garcia, a 25-year-old woman officials say was killed in Michigan by an undocumented immigrant she was in a romantic relationship with.
Garcia’s sister Mavi told a local news station in Michigan later Tuesday that Trump did not speak with members of her family despite him claiming he had in his Michigan campaign speech. CNN has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
Ahead of Trump's official remarks in Michigan, he held a brief roundtable with law enforcement officials and state representatives, including Rep. John James, former Rep. Mike Rogers, Rep. Jack Bergman, Allegan County Sheriff Frank Baker and Van Buren County Sheriff Daniel Abbott.
Trump, who left Michigan for a campaign speech in Green Bay, Wisconsin, emphasized the importance of the two battleground states. “This is a very important state. You win Michigan, you win the election,” Trump said.
This is post has been updated with comments from Garcia's sister.