Trump names women and girls killed in anti-immigration campaign Reuters

Written by Ted Hesson and Alexandra Ulmer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Minutes before the first presidential debate on Thursday, Donald Trump received a call from the mother of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was killed in Houston this month, allegedly by two Venezuelan men. the US illegally. The mother, Alexis Nungaray, was returning a voicemail Trump left earlier in the day while at her daughter’s funeral, a family friend, Victoria Galvan, who saw the call, told Reuters. Nungaray’s body was found in a stream near his home on June 17, after his attackers allegedly took him under a bridge, tied him up and stripped him of his pants and strangled him, according to police and prosecutors.

The suspects – Johan Jose Martinez Rangel, 22, and Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26 – were detained by US border authorities in Texas earlier this year but were released pending a court appearance. During the debate, Trump brought up Nungaray’s case and the phone call as he pressed Biden on his immigration policies, accusing the Democrat of allowing murderers and rapists into the country. “There have been many young women killed by the same people who allowed them to cross our border,” Trump said. “These killers come into our country and rape and kill women. And it’s a terrible thing.”

Speaking about Nungaray’s case, he said: “This is very bad, what happened … We are an uncivilized country now.”

Trump’s attack comes from the well-thumbed playbook he has used repeatedly since he first ran for office in 2015 to cast illegal immigrants crossing the southern border as violent criminals. He tends to focus on young women, usually white, who are allegedly killed by Hispanic assailants to drive home that message, avoiding charges involving male victims. Opponents accuse him of exploiting grieving families to advance his narrative that immigrants, mostly Spanish-speaking, are part of an invading force.

“Part of what’s happening here is an attempt to promote xenophobia or hatred or racial animosity,” said Christopher Federico, a professor of political science and psychology at the University of Minnesota, adding that Trump appears to be playing on racist stereotypes that paint Latinos. men as threats to the “perceived purity of white womanhood.”

Studies often find no evidence that immigrants commit crimes at higher rates than native-born Americans and critics say Trump’s rhetoric reinforces racism.

Still, polls show that the visceral message resonates among many voters. It is amplified by the conservative media, pro-Trump activists on the Internet and sometimes by the grieving relatives and friends of the murdered women.

Galvan, 27, blamed Nungaray’s death on Biden’s easing of further restrictions on the US-Mexico border.

“I think Jocelyn would still be here if President Trump was our president,” Galvan said, adding that he plans to vote for the first time in the presidential election and will support Trump.

Despite a lack of evidence, nearly three-quarters of Republicans in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in May said illegal immigrants in the US are “a threat to public safety.”

THE WELL-WEARING PLAYBOOK

Trump attacked Biden over records of immigrants caught crossing the US-Mexico border illegally. Immigration is a big issue for voters, especially among conservatives.

In response, Biden accused Trump of urging Republicans to block a US Senate bill earlier this year aimed at strengthening border security and portrayed Trump’s policies as unnecessarily harsh.

“Donald Trump is using the pain and loss of American families to benefit one person and one person only: Donald Trump,” Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said in a statement. “His sick and demeaning comments do nothing to make our border more secure and are under the presidency of the United States.”

A digital ad with violent accusations and criticism of Biden was launched last week in seven battleground states as part of the conservative group’s Building America’s Future campaign.

The ad focuses on Rachel Morin – a mother of five who was raped and killed while jogging in August 2023 near her home in Maryland – and her killer who is suspected of coming to El Salvador in the US illegally.

“Joe Biden’s open border, a nightmare for American women,” said a woman’s voice as the face of Morin’s killer was revealed next to Biden’s.

Trump’s approach echoes the often-quoted “Willie Horton” ad attacking Democrat Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential campaign, according to Susan Del Percio, a Republican strategist critical of Trump’s immigration rhetoric.

Horton was black and critics said the ad – which boosted the election of Republican George HW Bush – sought to stoke race-based fears.

“Trump says, ‘We don’t like immigrants and now here’s another horrible reason not to like them. They’re going to come after you and kill you,'” she said.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said Biden’s border policies have allowed dangerous criminals to enter the US and that Trump wants to support victims’ families.

“President Trump calls their names, calls their mothers, and stands with their families, while Joe Biden continues to ignore their suffering and welcomes millions of dangerous criminals who come to the country illegally,” Leavitt said in a statement.

Trump has used negative language to describe illegal immigrants in the US, including that they are “poisoning the blood” of the country.

COMBINED ADMISSION

The parents of some of the victims have welcomed Trump’s efforts to declare the brutal killings, while others say that he is just politicizing the death of their loved ones.

In 2018, Trump announced Mollie Tibbetts’ case after the 20-year-old University of Iowa student was killed illegally in the US, but Tibbetts’ father blamed Trump at the time for using the tragedy for political gain.

Laura Calderwood, Tibbetts’ mother, told Reuters that she believed her daughter’s killer was a disturbed person but that her murder had nothing to do with her being of foreign descent.

“It was kind of weird,” said Calderwood, a Democrat who plans to vote for Biden. “There are a lot of illegal immigrants here and they don’t go out and kill people.”

Michelle Root, whose daughter Sarah was killed in Nebraska in 2016 when her car was hit by a drunk driver in the US illegally, told Reuters that then President Barack Obama and Vice President Biden did not respond when she wrote to them at the time to raise awareness of the case.

Obama’s office and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Trump, who was president at the time, invited her to meet with him before the meeting in Omaha, she said. The meeting convinced Root — a lifelong Democrat who voted for Obama twice — to support Trump.

He later called her and asked her permission to speak about Sarah’s case at his acceptance of the Republican presidential nomination that summer, she said.

“If it wasn’t for him, Sara wouldn’t have a voice,” she said.

Patty Morin, Rachel Morin’s mother, was “incredibly moved” when Trump reached out to her earlier this month to comfort her, her attorney, Randolph Rice, told Reuters.

“During the 20-minute call, the president asked about Rachel and her family and how they were doing,” Rice said via email. “He’s never heard of the Biden administration.”