Trump: migrants predisposed to murder due to genetics, refers to stats from his presidency
Donald Trump has implied that migrants in the US who have committed murder have done so due to genetic factors.
While criticizing his Democratic opponent, vice president Kamala Harris, over her immigration record, Mr Trump referenced statistics from the Department of Homeland Security.
In a radio interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt, Mr Trump stated: “How about allowing people to come through an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers?
“Many of them murdered far more than one person. And they’re now happily living in the United States.
“You know, now a murderer – I believe this: it’s in their genes. And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.
“Then you had 425,000 people come into our country that shouldn’t be here that are criminals.”
However, the statistics covered a span of decades, including the years of Mr Trump’s own administration.
His campaign has attempted to downplay the suggestion that Mr Trump was insinuating migrants are genetically predisposed to commit murder.
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“He was clearly referring to murderers, not migrants,” Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, said.
“It’s pretty disgusting the media is always so quick to defend murderers, rapists and illegal criminals if it means writing a bad headline about President Trump.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to Mr Trump’s comments saying: “That type of language, it’s hateful, it’s disgusting, it’s inappropriate, it has no place in our country.”
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The former president and Republican nominee has centered illegal immigration as a key focus of his 2024 campaign, promising to execute the largest deportation operation in US history if elected.
He has a history of derogatory remarks towards immigrants, labeling them as “animals” and “killers” and claiming they spread diseases.
