Trump spotlights ‘Biden’s Border Bloodbath’ during stop in crucial battleground state he lost in 2020

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Donald Trump is turning up the volume as he accuses President Biden of failing to protect Americans from violent crime that the former president says is being committed by illegal immigrants and deadly drugs pouring over the nation’s southern border with Mexico.

Trump fired numerous salvos at his successor in the White House during a campaign stop Tuesday in this city in western Michigan. 

The former president’s stop comes in the wake of the March 22 murder of Ruby Garcia, a 25-year-old woman allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant who had been deported to Mexico in 2020 but returned to the U.S. Garcia’s death is dominating local conservative talk radio and social media. 

Pointing to Garcia’s death, Trump emphasized that “a beautiful young woman was savagely murdered by an illegal alien criminal. Under the Trump administration, this monster had been deported, thrown out of the country.”

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Brandon Ortiz-Vite, who is currently being held at the Kent County Jail in Grand Rapids, is being charged with murder and other crimes after the body of 25-year-old Ruby Garcia was discovered on U.S. 131 in downtown Grand Rapids and identified by investigators. (Mavi Garcia, Kent County Jail)

“We threw him out of the country and crooked Joe Biden took him back,” Trump argued. “It’s a border bloodbath, and it’s destroying our country… it’s going to end on the day that I take office, which will be January 20.”

Standing behind Trump as he spoke was a group of law enforcement officials and Republican politicians, who joined the former president for a roundtable discussion minutes earlier. 

PREVIOUSLY DEPORTED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED WITH MURDER OF 25-YEAR OLD MICHIGAN WOMAN

Before Trump arrived in Michigan, the Republican National Committee fired up a new website, BidenBloodbath.com, which they argue is dedicated to “highlighting the horrors of Biden Migrant Crime.”

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, gives an address on crime and border security during a stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on April 2, 2024 (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

Ahead of Trump’s visit to Grand Rapids, Biden campaign communications director in Michigan Alyssa Bradley charged that the former president would “once again try to politicize a tragedy and sow hate and division.”

And Biden’s campaign reiterated their charge that Trump tanked the bipartisan border security bill that they say would have allowed the president to “shut down the border right now and fix it quickly.”

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“It was Donald  Trump who ordered his MAGA allies to kill it because he thinks it helps him politically – he doesn’t actually care about border security,” Biden’s campaign claimed.

While Trump was in Grand Rapids, the Democratic National Committee went up with billboards in the city charging “Donald Trump broke the border.” 

The Biden campaign also spotlighted in a release “violent crime is down nationally – in Detroit, homicides hit a 57 year record low in 2023. “

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Illegal immigration and border security have long been top of mind for Republican voters, and GOP leaders for over three years have heavily criticized Biden and his administration over the surge in border crossings by migrants. The president’s approval rating on handling the border and immigration remains deeply underwater.

After his stop in Michigan, Trump headed to Green Bay, Wisconsin, to headline a rally. Michigan and Wisconsin were two of the six crucial battleground states that Biden narrowly edged Trump to win the White House four years ago.

An average of the most recent polls in Michigan compiled by Real Clear Politics indicates Trump with a slight edge over Biden. 

Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.

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