Donald Trump called immigrants living in the United States illegally “animals” and “not human”, using the demeaning language he has frequently used on the campaign trail, on Tuesday.
The Republican presidential candidate, who was accompanied by a number of law enforcement officials, gave a detailed account of multiple criminal cases involving suspects who were in the country illegally. He also issued a dire warning, claiming that if he lost the election on November 5, chaos and violence would sweep through America.
He used a similarly ominous tone when speaking later in Green Bay, Wisconsin, referring to the 2024 election as the “final battle” of the country.
Speaking of Georgia's 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley, who was slain by an illegal Venezuelan immigrant, Trump claimed that some immigrants were less than human.
"Don't call them animals, please, say the Democrats. They are people. The president from 2017 to 2021, Donald Trump, stated, "No, they're not humans, they're not humans, they're animals."
Trump talked about meeting the family of Ruby Garcia, a 25-year-old local who was killed by an illegal immigrant last month, according to police, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. According to reports in the local media, Garcia's sister denied that the former president had spoken with the family.
Trump routinely asserts in campaign stump speeches that illegal immigrants entering the country from Mexico have broken free from asylum and prison systems in their home countries and are the source of violent crime in the US.
Researchers claim that even though there is little information on the immigration status of offenders, those who are in the country illegally do not commit violent crimes more frequently than citizens who were born here.
The Democratic nominee for president in November, Joe Biden, accuses Trump of pressuring Republicans in Congress not to approve legislation this year that would have increased border security and implemented policies to curb illegal immigration.
Ahead of Trump's speeches on Tuesday, Michael Tyler, the director of communications for the Biden campaign, told reporters, "Donald Trump is engaging in extreme rhetoric that promotes division, hate, and violence in our country."
In his speech in Michigan, Trump referred to it as "Biden's border bloodbath" and claimed to have met Garcia's family. Garcia was allegedly killed in her car last month by the 25-year-old boyfriend of Garcia, Brandon Ortiz-Vite.
"I have heard from so many people that she had the most infectious laugh and that she brightened any room in which she entered. I talked to a few members of her family," said Trump.
Ruby Garcia's sister Mavi Garcia refuted that story, local television stations reported.
A local NBC affiliate quoted Mavi Garcia as saying, "He did not speak with any of us, so it was kind of shocking seeing that he had said that he spoke with us."
Garcia's family was not immediately reachable by Reuters. A spokesman for the Trump campaign declined to provide an official statement.
The killings of Garcia and Riley have given Trump's campaign the opportunity to capitalize on voters' anxieties about both immigration and violent crime at the same time.
In a late-February Reuters/Ipsos poll, roughly one in five independent respondents and 38% of Republicans named immigration as the nation's top issue. Trump regularly asserts, without providing proof, that immigrants are to blame for an increase in violent crime in American cities. He reiterated the baseless accusation on Tuesday that criminals from Latin American countries are deliberately being sent to the United States.
Trump promised to put an end to the "plunder, rape, slaughter, and destruction of our American suburbs, cities, and towns" during his evening speech in Wisconsin.
Additionally, he issued a warning that this could be America's final election.
"If we lose this election, this country is doomed," he declared. "And two or three days ago, I heard someone say that this might be the last election our nation ever holds if we lose. And it might be true in some cases."
Two swing states, Michigan and Wisconsin, have the potential to decide whether Biden or Trump wins the presidency in 2020.
In Wisconsin and Michigan, Biden defeated Trump by a combined margin of less than one and less than three percentage points in the 2020 election. This year, both states are anticipated to be very close.
Despite having mathematically secured their presidential nominations, Trump and Biden will be competing in their party's presidential primary on Tuesday in Wisconsin.
The Biden administration will be keeping an eye out for Democratic protest votes from those incensed over the president's resolute backing of Israel in its conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
Though Biden easily won the February presidential primary in Michigan, a state with a sizable Muslim population, over 100,000 Democrats abstained from voting for Biden in protest of his Gaza policy.
On Tuesday, there's a comparable choice in Wisconsin. The aim of the protest campaign is to have 20,682 voters mark their ballots as "uninstructed," which is the equivalent of "uncommitted" in Wisconsin. The figure is noteworthy because it shows the margin of victory that Biden had over Trump in the state in 2020.
