5:18 PM ET, February 29, 2024
President Trump stokes fears about immigration and crime during border visit
From CNN's Kate Sullivan
Former President Donald Trump visits the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas, as seen from Piedras Negras, Mexico, on February 29.
Go Nakamura/Reuters
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday stood near the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas, slamming President Joe Biden and his border policies and stoking fears about the influx of migrants into the United States.
President Trump has sought to link crime in the United States to the recent increase in immigration, which he calls “immigration crime,” even though there is little evidence of a link between immigration and crime. In fact, many researchers argue that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes.
The former president said Wednesday that he spoke with the parents of 22-year-old Laken Riley, who was found dead after jogging on the University of Georgia campus. President Trump has repeatedly cited Riley's death as he promotes tough immigration policies, as the suspect in her murder is an illegal immigrant from Venezuela.
“These guys are coming to our country, they’re coming from prisons, they’re coming from prisons, they’re coming from mental hospitals, they’re coming from mental hospitals, and They're terrorists. They're being taken into our country. And it's scary,” Trump said, repeating the typical anti-immigrant rhetoric he uses on the campaign trail.
The former president praised Texas Governor Greg Abbott for introducing a controversial new security initiative. The U.S. Supreme Court recently allowed U.S. Border Patrol agents to remove razor wire deployed on Abbott's initiative at the U.S.-Mexico border pending legal challenges to the action by states. .
Trump's border visit came shortly after Trump pushed through a bipartisan border bill to allow Biden to continue campaigning on what has been perceived as Biden's weakness on the border issue.
