A Democratic congressman has claimed it is “racist” to suggest migrant crime is rising following the death of nursing student Laken Riley as he campaigned for President Biden ahead of a Thursday event at the southern border.
“This immigrant crime narrative is racist,” Rep. Robert Garcia, of California, said in a press call organized by the president’s re-election campaign on Wednesday, according to The Washington Examiner.
“It is not true,” he insisted.
“Donald Trump is out here saying we’re poisoning the blood of this country — and the facts don’t bear that out.
“Immigrants, by and large, are committing less crime. So whenever this narrative comes forward, you know, it’s just an untrue narrative.”
The Biden campaign has long been facing criticism for its immigration policies and high profile violent crimes across the United States that have been linked to migrants, even as the murder rate in major cities and the country as a whole dropped last year as the migrant crisis surged.
In Georgia, Venezuelan national Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, is accused of bashing in Riley’s skull in a brutal attack on the University of Georgia campus.
And in New York City, police are trying to crack down on a Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua, which is accused of beating cops and participating in a slew of robberies.
One issue hampering border officials’ ability to screen for known criminals at the border is a lack of available resources to check their backgrounds.
“When somebody is arrested for crossing illegally, there are limited checks on their background,” Chris Cabrera, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, told NewsNation.
“Their fingerprints are run against our records here in the United States, and not all countries share their records with us,” he explained.
“So if we don’t have access to their records, if they haven’t committed any crimes here in the United States, then all we have to go by is what they say.
“Unfortunately, CBP [Customs and Border Protection] has no interest in closing that loophole,” Cabrera said. “And we’re going to continue along this path, unfortunately.”
But Biden tried to tout his efforts to tackle crime across the country on Wednesday, saying that his administration’s investment in local police and crime-plagued cities under the American Rescue Plan brought down the nation’s homicide rate.
“Since day one, my administration has been working with law enforcement, mayors and community leaders to do what we know works to keep people in the community safe,” he said, according to The Washington Times.
A few hours later, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters the administration could not specifically speak about the death of Riley, as it is an ongoing investigation.
She also declined to say if Biden would reach out to the family, but called the situation “heartbreaking,” the Washington Times reports.
The president is now expected to travel to the southern border for the second time in his administration.
He will travel to Brownsville, Tex. on Thursday, at the same time his likely opponent Donald Trump will be campaigning in Eagle Pass, Tex. — about 300 miles away.
While there, the president “will meet with US Border Patrol agents, law enforcement, frontline personnel and local leaders to discuss the urgent need to pass the Senate bipartisan border security agreement,” White House officials said.
The package includes over $20 billion for border security, which will fund more Customs and Border Protection agents, as well as additional asylum officers and immigration judges.
Biden will be joined on the trip by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Rep. Vincente Gonzalez, local elected officials, as well as personnel from Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
