Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, during a campaign event at the Dodge County Airport (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Donald Trump suggested Monday that people in the country illegally who have committed crimes have “bad genes”, the latest example of the former president’s rhetoric that dehumanizes immigrants and disparages them in racial terms.
Trump made the comment during an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt while criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris’ record on border security. Trump accused her of “allowing people to enter across an open border, 13,000 of whom were murderers” – repeating a claim that significantly distorts data recently released by the federal government.
“You know, now, a murderer, I believe, is in his genes.”Trump said. “And we have a lot of bad genes in our country right now. They have entered our country 425,000 people who should not be here, who are criminals.”
Trump and his allies have seized on data released last month by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Congress, saying it shows President Joe Biden’s administration has released more than 13,000 undocumented immigrants with homicide convictions. The figure is higher – approximately 425,000 – if expanded to include all criminal convictions. However, the data goes back decades, long before Biden took office, and includes convicted criminals who could be imprisoned outside of ICE jurisdiction.
Trump’s protection after the assassination attempts (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
Trump has faced backlash for his rhetoric targeting undocumented immigrants since he began running for president in 2015. But his language has become darker and more demeaning in his latest campaign.
Trump has said that undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” and has even advocated expelling people who are here legally, such as Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, from the country. Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (Ohio), have amplified false claims that immigrants are eating pets in Ohio.
Trump’s latest comment referring to “bad genes” takes his rhetoric toward immigrants a step further, playing on the clichés that foreigners are genetically inferior to Americans and responsible for social problems – such as violent crime – as a result.
Trump has addressed the issue before. In 2020, he praised attendees at a campaign rally in majority-white Minnesota for having “good genes.” He also praised “racehorse theory,” the idea borrowed from horse racing that people with superior qualities will pass those strengths on to their children.
Trump during a campaign event in Wisconsin (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
“You have good genes, you know that, right?” Trump said. “You have good genes. A lot has to do with genes, right? Don’t you believe it? The racehorse theory, do you think we are so different? In Minnesota you have good genes.”
Harris and Biden have repeatedly rebuked Trump for the language he has used to attack immigrants, focusing especially on his accusation that undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the nation. They have linked it to the ideology of Adolf Hitler, who argued in his “Main Kampf” manifesto that Jews were subjecting Germans to “blood poisoning.”
Trump has tried to distance himself from the connection, saying last year that he is not “a student of Hitler.”
Campaigning for Biden this year in South Carolina, Harris brought up Trump’s “blood poisoning” comment and said: “For years, the former president has fanned the fires of hate and bigotry and racism and xenophobia for his own power and political gain.”.
