Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stated that “nobody wants to talk about” crimes committed by illegal immigrants and wondered “why wouldn’t you talk about a problem?” On Saturday’s “Fox & Friends” on the Fox News Channel.
Trump commented on the killing of Kathryn Seinle, whose suspected murderer, Francisco Sanchez, who was under an ICE detainer when he was released back in April, “Well, I think it’s so sad, an incredible young woman shot right in front of her father. Her father was standing there watching. I saw the brother today. And you can never be the same when a thing like that happens, never, no matter what happens, you can never be the same. And this is something that should have never taken place. He was sent out of the country many times. He was a violent person, and we have many cases like this. Nobody wants to talk about it. It seems like I’m sort of the whipping post because I bring it up, and I don’t understand whether you’re liberal, whether you’re conservative, whether you’re Republican, Democrat, why wouldn’t you talk about a problem? There’s tremendous crime and it’s — you know, illegal immigration is just incredible. And you talk about terrorism and the terrorists, they’re going to come in from the southern border, too, because it’s the easiest thing, you just walk right in. What’s going on in the country is incredible. And you would think that no matter where you are in terms of party affiliation, you’d want to do something about this. But, the crime is raging, it’s raging, and it’s violent, and people don’t want to even talk about it, and if you talk about it, you’re a racist. I don’t understand it.”
Trump also addressed the criticism he received from other Republican candidates such as George Pataki, Marco Rubio, and Rick Perry. He stated, “Well, I know Pataki well. And he’s a sad figured. He’s got zero in the polls, and he was a terrible Governor of New York, terrible. If he would have run again…he wouldn’t have gotten anything. So, he was a failed governor. And, you know, as far as Rubio, he’s very weak on immigration, and he’s — I’ve been saying that for some time about him, he’s weak on immigration. I respect Ted Cruz for the view that he’s got. I mean, he was really out there and strong on it, and I shouldn’t say this because I assume he’s an opponent, but the fact is he was very brave in coming out. And when I look at somebody like Perry, who was the governor there for a long period of time, well, he could have done something a little bit, maybe a lot more in terms of protecting people because, again, the crime is rampant. And this isn’t a Mexico thing. This is — you know, I have great relations with Mexico, and I love the Mexican people and the spirit of the Mexican people. These are people just pouring across the border. And you know it involves more than just border. It involves trade, everything we do in this country is just off. Our trade deals are terrible, our border protection is terrible, our security is terrible. You look at what ISIS is doing to us, they’re laughing at us. Do we have victories anymore in our country? And the answer is really ‘no.'”
Trump added that his presidential candidacy is “to make our country great again,” “for the people that say I’m doing it for my brand, this isn’t good for my brand. I think it’s bad for my brand. … I lose customers, I lose people.”
Trump concluded by arguing, “you hear about different people that drop Trump because Trump wants safety in the United States. I mean, if you think of it, what am I doing? I say, ‘Let’s make our country safe’ and people are offended, it’s incredible to me.” And “All we’re talking about is about safety, and how can people fight that? Why are people bad because they want to stop illegal immigration. And some of the people coming in, not all, but some of the people coming in, are very violent people. And I don’t understand how people fight it, but they do. And you become unpopular, at the same time, on another side of the ledge you become very popular, I guess.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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