As Americans’ discontent with illegal
immigration continues escalating—and the presidential race heats up—former President
Donald Trump is slated to participate in a pair of events focusing on the crisis. On April 2, the presumed
Republican presidential nominee plans to make remarks in Grand Rapids, Michigan. That’s the latest U.S. community expressing outrage over a violent crime allegedly committed by an illegal immigrant. A 25-year-old woman was slain March 22; the suspect is a previously deported Mexican national. When President Biden took office in 2021, he reversed many of the tightened immigration policies that
President Trump enacted during the prior four years; the Biden administration has touted a more “welcoming” approach. President Trump and President Biden both visited the Texas-Mexico border in February. While President Biden blamed
Congress for inaction on key immigration issues,
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, faults President Biden for failing to enforce existing laws. President Trump reiterated that he was referring to President Biden’s “extreme electric vehicle mandate” decimating the auto industry. The mandate will “ship every last
American auto
Job and auto-manufacturing job to
China,” said President Trump, vowing to rebuild the U.S. auto-manufacturing industry. “While I was speaking metaphorically, a real bloodbath is occurring right now...It’s Biden’s border bloodbath,” he declared. President Trump blamed the Biden administration for “setting loose thousands of unvetted, unscreened military-age men into the
United States from parts unknown.” “People are pouring into our country at levels that we’ve never seen before,” he said. Although federal agencies say officers have encountered 9 million illegal immigrants, President Trump suggested the actual number is closer to 15 million. “That’s almost bigger than any state in the union,” he said. “Every day, innocent citizens are being killed, stabbed, shot, raped and murdered because of ‘Biden migrant crime.’...We call it ‘Biden migrant crime’ because he’s responsible for it.” An illegal
immigrant is accused of killing her after returning to the United States; he had been deported to his native land,
Mexico, in 2020, while President Trump was still in office. On March 24, two days after Ms. Garcia’s body was found along a highway, Mr. Ortiz-Vite contacted
police about Ms. Garcia’s death. Officers arrested him and booked him into the Kent County Jail in Michigan. Authorities identified the suspect in Ms. Riley’s slaying as Jose Ibarra, 26. A native of
Venezuela, he was allowed to stay in the U.S. after illegally entering in 2022. Mr. Ibarra was jailed in Athens, Georgia, on multiple charges stemming from Ms. Riley’s death, including murder, assault, and kidnapping. Police have said the two were believed to be strangers. Ms. Riley was attacked while jogging. She died from blunt-force trauma, authorities said. Similarly, he is expected to address Ms. Garcia’s death during his April 2 appearance in Grand Rapids, the city where she was found slain; she suffered from gunshot wounds and other injuries, officials said. The homicides of Ms. Riley and Ms. Garcia stand out amid a string of violent crimes that illegal immigrants are accused of committing. “President Trump will secure our border and protect Michigan families when elected in November,” he wrote March 29. “I look forward to welcoming him back in West Michigan...for this important discussion.” Michigan Rep. Rachel Hood, a Democrat, wrote that Ms. Garcia was a victim of domestic violence because the suspect was her “boyfriend.” She said Ms. Garcia’s family would receive justice, and she denounced President Trump for bringing “hateful rhetoric” to Michigan. The group’s fundraising gala is set for April 4 at Mar-a-Lago, which President Trump owns and calls home. The event is closed to the news media, organizers said. He urged people to stop grousing, “get off the couch and take some action.” His group has begun holding “solutions-oriented” border meetings since at least May 2023. A news release publicizing Border911’s event last year in Jefferson County,
New York, said: “Border911 reveals the true stories and consequences of America’s national security crisis.” Border911 said it brings together “experts, citizens, and elected officials to empower and encourage open, honest, and informed dialogue surrounding the United States’ borders.”