Democratic Representative Robert Garcia of California, while advocating for President Joe Biden, criticized those highlighting the recent surge in crimes committed by illegal immigrants, often of a violent nature.
Garcia, speaking ahead of Biden's visit to the southern border, labeled such focus as "racist" and reiterated the assertion that immigrants, including those who have entered the United States illegally, are less likely to commit crimes than those born in the country.
"Immigrants actually commit fewer crimes than native-born people here in this country," Garcia stated during a press briefing call. "This immigrant crime narrative is racist. It's not true."
Garcia also targeted former President Donald Trump for his assertion that illegal immigrants were "poisoning the blood of this country," countering that "the facts actually don't bear that out."
While statistics indicate that illegal immigrants, on average, commit fewer crimes than native-born citizens post-entry, critics argue that every crime committed by an illegal immigrant is entirely preventable, given they should not have crossed the border initially.
Garcia's remarks follow a string of violent crimes perpetrated by illegal immigrants across the United States. For instance, several Venezuelan gang members have been indicted for brutally assaulting NYPD officers in Times Square and committing robberies. In January, an El Salvadoran national allegedly caused a fatal car crash involving alcohol in Broomfield, Colorado, killing a mother and her son.
However, the case that has arguably brought the issue to the forefront is the murder of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University. Illegal immigrant Jose Antonio Ibarra has been charged with malice murder, murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, and concealing the death of another following the discovery of Riley's body at the University of Georgia campus in Athens.
"The horrible murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley at the University of Georgia should have NEVER happened!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. "The monster who took her life illegally entered our Country in 2022...and then was released AGAIN by Radical Democrats in New York after injuring a CHILD!!"
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