Donald Trump showed Texas voters that he supports Americans, not “undocumented immigrants” or ‘Dreamers,’ by sharing his Nov. 14 campaign-platform with the stricken parents and siblings of Americans who were killed by illegal immigrants.
The emotional display — 9.30 into the video — effectively underlined the deep contrast between Trump’s visceral pro-American attitudes, and the attitudes of his two main establishment rivals, Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. Jeb Bush. The two have repeatedly spoken in favor of diversity, young ‘dreamer’ illegals, and greater immigration.
The audience responded to Trump’s pro-American attitudes by chanting his name.
On the stage, Felicia Ruiz’s mother described how she was murdered in 1999 by an illegal who subsequently fled home to Venezuela. “She was stabbed over 39 times… we just want justice for our daughter,” said her mother, Kendra. “We need to elect someone like Mr Trump so he can stop all this, please,“ she said, before hugging Trump.
“If I win, we will get [the murderer] out, fast,” Trump responded.
The families are part of the Remembrance Project, which is a “national campaign to remember victims killed by illegal aliens.”
By highlighting some of the many Americans who have been killed by illegals, Trump is giving his supporters — plus many swing-voters — a powerful way to publicly express emotional solidarity with other Americans, and a shield against the stigma of being called “racist” by progressive advocates for illegal immigration.
Each year, many Americans are killed by illegals, who face little risk of repatriation before killing Americans. That’s because President Barack Obama has sharply reduced repatriations, and because Obama, President George W. Bush and Congress have minimized agency efforts to block companies from hiring illegals.
Between 2008 and 2014, roughly 7,085 Americans —including legal immigrants — were murdered by illegal immigrants in a just a few states.
Laura Wilkerson spoke for her son, 18-year-old Joshua, who was beaten to death in 2010 by an illegal immigrant. “Thank you, Mr Trump, for finally bringing it out… it happens every single day, it happens every day,” said Wilkerson.
Rhonda West spoke for her 10-year-old son, Kendrick, who was killed in 2010 by a drunken illegal-immigrant driver. “I want to thank you Mr Trump for everything you are doing, you’re our only hope, we love you, we love you,” West said.
Dan Govatch described how his 25-year-old son was shot in the head while stopped at a traffic light. The killer had been deported four times before and had a long criminal record. “Listen, this is the result of ‘politically correct’ politics,” said the father. People in power “have no problem sacrificing your loved one, your child, for the advancement of their own little agenda… I want to thank Mr Trump for standing up and saying the things he said that no-one else is saying,” said Govatch.
“You don’t see that, you don’t read about it in the papers,” Trump responded. “It is just unbelievable, and I see it all the time, wherever I go, because I’m the only one that talks about it,” he said.
“No matter where I go, I meet people who have lost a son, a daughter, a brother, a sister,” he said. “We can’t have this any more.”
In his subsequent speech, Trump spoke mostly about foreign policy, touted his prior defense-related statements and promised a tough, pro-American foreign policy. For example, he said that U.S. should have kept control of oil-fields in Iraq and spent some of the revenue on the families of American veterans.
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