In an interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show” that aired Monday morning, former President Donald Trump criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for her policies on the southern border and said that migrants have “bad genes.”
“Looking at what he’s proposing, it’s so far-fetched that he has no idea. How do you allow people to come to an open border that has killed 13,000 people,” he said, referring to the vice president’s immigration proposals.
“Many of them have killed more than one person and they are now living happily in the United States,” he said. “You know, a killer now, I believe it, it’s in their genes. And we have a lot of bad genes in our country right now. They left, 425,000 people came to our country who should not be here, they are criminals.”
NBC News has reached out to the Trump campaign for further clarification.
Trump’s 13,000 figure is misleading. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Congress There were 13,000 immigrants convicted of murder outside of ICE custody in September, but three law enforcement agencies told NBC News that number does not include people held outside ICE enforcement because ICE does not track arrests in jails. at the state or local level. Two law enforcement officials also told NBC News that many of them crossed the border before Biden became president (including during Trump’s administration).
This year, border crossings within the country have decreased partly because of this Biden administration policy and partly the efforts of Mexico (hereafter pressure About the Mexican government Biden administration).
During a rally last month, Trump argued that Harris should be “impeached and tried” suggesting that his border policies are causing people to be killed by migrants crossing the border. Trump and his allies tried to blame Harris for millions of migrants crossing the border after Biden in 2021. did his deputy Addressing the root causes of migration from Central America.
There is Trump offensive rhetoric has long been resorted to when discussing immigration. He began his 2016 presidential campaign by complaining about Mexico “I don’t send the best” people. Since then, his comments have escalated, accusing immigrants of “poisoning the blood of our country.” The Biden campaign has been compared to Adolf Hitler and drew Rebuke from Republican lawmakers.
This is not the first time Trump has invoked the science of race. In 2020, he praised an almost all-white crowd at a rally in Minnesota. “Good genes,” refers to a belief advanced by white supremacists called the “race horse theory”.
“You have good genes. You know that, right? You have good genes. A lot of it comes down to genes, don’t you think? Race horse theory. Do you think we are too different? You have good genes in Minnesota,” Trump said at the 2020 rally.
Amanda Terkel and Megan Lebowitz contributed.