Donald Trump escalated his inflammatory rhetoric on immigration on Tuesday, accusing President Biden of instigating a carnage at the US-Mexico border.

Trump has previously accused migrants of poisoning the nation’s blood and promised to launch the biggest one

domestic

deportation operation in the country’s history if he wins a second term. His latest comments came as he campaigned in two Midwestern swing states that will likely be crucial to the outcome of the 2024 election.

In Michigan he referred to immigrants in the US illegally

who are

suspected of committing crimes like animals, using dehumanizing language that those who study extremism

to have

warn

ed

increases the risk of violence.

Every town is now a border town because Joe Biden brought the carnage, chaos and killings from around the world and dumped them straight into our backyards, Trump said in Grand Rapids, where he stood at the door flanked by uniformed law enforcement officers . a row of flags.

While violent crime has declined,

according to the FBI,

Trump and other Republicans have seized on several high-profile crimes allegedly committed by immigrants in the US illegally. Polls show that there are many potential voters

are, they say

concerned about the consequences of border crossings.

Trump continued to harp on the issue

Tuesday evening

at a meeting in Green Bay, Wisconsin,

Tuesday evening

as the state held its presidential primaries. Trump accused rogue states of pumping migrants across our wide-open border and sending prisoners, murders, drug dealers, mental patients and terrorists, although there is no evidence that any country engages in that kind of coordinated effort.

Trump focused Tuesday on the killing of Ruby Garcia, a Michigan woman who was found dead

March 22nd

on the side of a highway in Grand Rapids

on March 22

. Police say she was in a romantic relationship with the suspect, Brandon Ortiz-Vite. He told police he shot her several times during an argument before dropping her body on the side of the road and driving away in her red Mazda.

Trump incorrectly referred to 25-year-old Garcia as a 17-year-old.

Authorities say Ortiz-Vite is a citizen of Mexico and was previously deported following a DUI arrest. He does not have an attorney listed in court records.

Garcia’s sister, Mavi, on Tuesday disputed Trump’s claim of who he had spoken to

number of members

from her family, according to FOX 17.

No, he hasn’t spoken to us, FOX 17 said she told them in a text message, without commenting further.

She pleaded on Facebook last week for reporters to stop politicizing her sister’s story and asked for privacy on Tuesday, saying she just wanted justice served and left alone.

Trump

So

again reported the murder of Laken Riley, a nursing student in Georgia. A Venezuelan man who officials say entered the U.S. illegally has been charged. Riley’s family attended Trump’s rally in Georgia last month and met him backstage.

Trump called the suspect in Riley’s death an illegal alien.

The Democrats say: please don’t call them animals. They’re people. I said: No, they are not people, they are not people, they are animals, he said.

This is evident from FBI statistics

jumpsuit

that violent crime fell again in the US last year, continuing a downward trend after a pandemic-era peak. Violent crime in Michigan hit a three-year low in 2022, according to the most recent data available. Crime in Michigan’s largest city, Detroit, is also down, with the fewest homicides last year since 1966.

Top Republicans from across Michigan

had

packed into a conference room in downtown Grand Rapids to hear Trump speak in a county he won in 2016 but lost to Biden in 2020. Outside the event center

more than over

There were 100 supporters present

the

cold rain along the street where Trump’s motorcade was expected to pass.

In a nearby park, a small group advocating for immigration reform gathered to hold a moment of silence for Garcia, holding signs that read No Man is Illegal and Michigan Welcomes Immigrants.

In Green Bay, some fans braved three hours of snowfall

outside

to enter the location.

Biden’s campaign, which has criticized Trump for his role in ending a bipartisan border deal that would have added more than 1,500 people

new

Customs and Border Protection personnel, among other restrictions

about immigration

pre-empted the speech by accusing Trump of politicizing the woman’s death.

Tomorrow, Donald Trump comes to Grand Rapids, where he is expected to once again try to politicize a tragedy and sow hatred and division to hide from his own record of failing Michiganders, said Biden communications director Alyssa Bradley campaigns in Michigan.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said Monday that there is a real problem at our southern border and it is truly critical that Congress and the president solve the problem.

There was a solution on the table. It was actually the former president who encouraged Republicans to abandon it, Whitmer said. I don’t have much tolerance for political points if they continue to endanger our economy and, to some extent, our people, as we recently saw happening in Grand Rapids.

Associated Press writer Cappelletti reported from Grand Rapids, Gomez Licon from Green Bay and Colvin from New York. AP writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, and Josh Boe in Washington contributed to this report.