By Nathan Layne, Gram Slattery and Tim Reid
GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (Reuters) – Donald Trump called illegal immigrants in the United States “animals” and “not human” in a speech in Michigan on Tuesday, resorting to the degrading rhetoric he used repeatedly on the campaign trail.
The Republican presidential candidate, appearing with several law enforcement officers, detailed several criminal cases involving suspected illegals in the country and warned that violence and chaos would consume America if he did not win the election on 5 November.
In a later speech in Green Bay, Wisconsin, he struck a similarly ominous tone, describing the 2024 election as the nation’s “final battle.”
Speaking about Laken Riley — a 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia allegedly killed by a Venezuelan immigrant in the country illegally — Trump said some immigrants were subhuman.
“The Democrats say, ‘Please don’t call them animals. They’re human.’ I said, ‘No, they’re not human, they’re not human, they’re animals,'” said Trump, president from 2017 to 2021.
In Grand Rapids, Michigan, Trump described meeting the family of Ruby Garcia, a 25-year-old local who was murdered last month by a suspect in the country illegally, according to police. Garcia’s sister denied that the former president had spoken to her family, local media reported.
In banal speeches, Trump often says that immigrants illegally crossing the border into Mexico have escaped prisons and asylums in their home countries and are fueling violent crime in the United States.
While there is little available data on criminals’ immigration status, researchers say people living in the United States illegally do not commit violent crimes at a higher rate than native-born citizens.
Democratic President Joe Biden, Trump’s rival in November’s presidential election, accuses Trump of encouraging Republicans in Congress not to pass legislation this year that would have strengthened security at the southern border and introduced measures to reduce illegal immigration.
“Donald Trump is engaging in extreme rhetoric that promotes division, hatred and violence in our country,” Michael Tyler, communications director for the Biden campaign, told reporters Tuesday ahead of Trump’s speeches.
Trump titled his speech in Michigan “Biden’s Border Bloodbath” and said he met with family members of Garcia, who was allegedly killed last month in her car by Brandon Ortiz-Vite, 25, who he dated.
“They said she had a contagious laugh, and when she walked into a room, she lit it up, and I heard that from so many people. I talked to some of her family members,” Trump said.
Mavi Garcia, Ruby Garcia’s sister, disputed this account, according to local television.
“He didn’t talk to any of us, so it was shocking to see that he said he talked to us,” Mavi Garcia was quoted as saying by a local NBC affiliate.
Reuters was unable to immediately contact Garcia’s family. A representative for Trump’s campaign declined to comment on the report.
The murders of Garcia and Riley allowed the Trump campaign to simultaneously exploit some voters’ fears about violent crime and immigration.
About 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, without evidence, that migrants have caused a surge in violent crime in U.S. cities. On Tuesday he reiterated the unfounded claim that Latin American nations intentionally send their criminals to the United States.
WISCONSIN PRIMARY ON TUESDAY
During his evening speech in Wisconsin, Trump promised that he would stop “the looting, rape, slaughter and destruction of our American suburbs, cities and towns.”
He also warned that the next election could be America’s last.
“This country is finished if we don’t win this election,” he said. “And I heard someone say … two or three days ago, he said, if we don’t win, this could be the last election our country ever has. And there may be some truth to it.”
Michigan and Wisconsin are two swing states that could determine whether Biden or Trump occupies the White House next year.
In the 2020 election, Biden beat Trump in Wisconsin by less than one percentage point and in Michigan by less than three. Both states are expected to be extremely close again this year.
Although both Trump and Biden have mathematically clinched their presidential nominations, they will participate in their party’s presidential primaries in Wisconsin on Tuesday.
Biden’s team will be watching for protest votes from Democrats angry at the president’s strong support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
In February’s presidential primaries in Michigan, a state with a large Muslim population, Biden won the primary handily, but more than 100,000 Democrats voted “noncommittally,” rather than for Biden, in protest against his Gaza policy.
A similar option is available Tuesday in Wisconsin. The protest campaign’s goal is to convince 20,682 voters to mark their ballots as “uneducated,” Wisconsin’s version of “unengaged.” The number is significant because it represents Biden’s margin of victory over Trump in the state in 2020.