The Former Guy landed in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Tuesday afternoon, to campaign on “Biden’s Border Bloodbath,” claiming the man who killed a Michigan woman is one of those “poisoning the blood” of America.
Trump exploited the death of Ruby Garcia, a 25-year-old Grand Rapids woman who was murdered by her boyfriend, Brandon Ortiz-Vite, 25. The conference was closed to the public, and the victim’s family was invited but not present.
According to ICE, Ortiz-Vite is a Mexican national who was previously deported in 2020 when Trump was president. ICE says it does not know whether Ortiz-Vite unlawfully re-entered the country during the final months of Trump’s presidency or if he crossed the southern border again since Biden took office in late January 2021.
Local authorities called the murder a “domestic violence homicide” that stemmed from their romantic relationship.
On Monday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told reporters that the country has a “real problem” at its southern border.
“It is really critical that Congress and the president solve the problem,” Whitmer said Monday. “There was a solution on the table. It was actually the former president that urged Republicans to walk away from getting it done.”
“I don’t have a lot of tolerance for people who want to score political points when it continues to endanger our economy and, to some extent, our people, as we saw play out in Grand Rapids recently,” Whitmer said.
“My thought is this: ‘Wait, now you care about domestic violence, Donald Trump? Now you care about gun violence?’” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Saturday at a Detroit event.
Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, a Democrat from Grand Rapids, said Monday she condemned any effort to politicize the death of Garcia. Brinks said she had been in contact with Garcia’s family through intermediaries. “I’m not at liberty to reveal that,” Brinks said of what she had heard from the family.
Are immigrants more likely to commit crimes?
No, and most research indicates they are actually less likely to commit crimes, regardless of their legal status, according to a 2019 study by the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University.
In Michigan, about 91,000 people are in the state without authorization, about 1.2% of the state’s population, according to the nonpartisan research firm Migration Policy Institute.
The number of immigrants legally allowed to enter Michigan, including those granted green cards and refugee or asylum status, had not risen dramatically under Biden as of 2022.