Former President Donald Trump blamed Vice President Kamala Harris Friday for the shocking number of migrants living illegally in the US who have been convicted or accused of homicide.
Trump, 78, called the federal data showing more than 15,000 illegal immigrants have been charged with or convicted of homicide the “worst numbers I think I’ve ever heard,” during a town hall event in Warren, Mich., before slamming the Democratic nominee for president.
“It was all done by Comrade Kamala Harris,” the former president said. “Our great border czar, who’s incompetent, who’s totally incompetent.”
The data, provided to Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, shows that there were 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories in ICE’s national docket as of July 21, including 13,099 convicted of homicide and 1,845 with pending homicide cases.
ICE currently is detaining 277 migrants who have been convicted of homicide and 51 who face such charges, the agency said, indicating that those individuals likely face deportation.
“They were all released into our country,” Trump said. “And we can’t put up with this.”
“This is gross incompetence,” the 45th president added.
Trump’s remarks in the Wolverine State centered on the automobile industry and his proposal to implement sweeping new tariffs, if elected to a second term in the White House.
He argued that by imposing tariffs on Chinese automobiles being manufactured in Mexico but destined for the US, American auto manufacturing would boom to “levels that we haven’t seen in 50 years.”
“[Chinese automakers] think they’re going to make the cars and sell them here and close up Detroit, close up everything in this area, close up South Carolina – and it’s not going to happen, because we’re going to put very heavy tariffs on those cars coming across the border,” Trump said.
“We’re not going to let it happen,” he added.
Trump shifted back to immigration and attacking Harris near the end of the town hall, calling the VP someone “who always complains and doesn’t do anything.”
“She’s on the border today,” Trump noted, referring to Harris’ first trip to the US-Mexico border as the Democratic nominee for president. “What a day for the border.”
