Former President Donald Trump once again stirred controversy on Monday, claiming that illegal immigrants are bringing “bad genes” into the United States.
The comments, made during a radio interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt, are the latest in Trump’s ongoing rhetoric about immigration, which has often been accused of demonizing migrants.
Trump made the remarks while attacking Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic rival in the upcoming presidential election. He referenced government figures showing that 13,000 immigrants were not being detained by federal immigration authorities despite homicide convictions.
“How about allowing people to come to an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers, many of them murdered far more than one person? They are now happily living in the United States,” Trump said. He went on to state, “A murderer — I believe this — it’s in their genes. We’ve got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.”
The figures Trump cited appear to be a misrepresentation of data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in September. The statistics do not reflect individuals incarcerated in non-ICE facilities, such as state or local prisons, and span across several decades, including years when Trump himself was president.
Critics quickly condemned Trump’s remarks. Conservative commentator Richard Hanania, while disagreeing with the 13,000 murderer figure, supported Trump’s broader argument on crime and genetics, though he called on Trump to consider the low crime rates among immigrants. “I don’t normally defend Trump’s statements, and even here he drops the 13,000 released murderers lie,” said Hanania, president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology. “But he’s right that crime is largely genetic. He should just learn about the low crime rate among immigrants and think about the implications.”
The remarks come as Trump and Harris remain locked in a tight race ahead of November’s election. Trump’s campaign has focused heavily on immigration, with the 78-year-old frequently portraying undocumented migrants — and even some legal immigrants — as a threat to public safety.
In a rally last month, Trump called for Vice President Harris to be prosecuted over President Joe Biden’s border policies, branding immigrants as “animals” intent on “rape, pillage, thieve, plunder and kill.” He also falsely accused Haitian residents in Ohio of eating local pets and threatened them with deportation.
This is not the first time Trump has made incendiary statements about immigrants. In December, he was widely condemned after accusing immigrants of “poisoning the blood of our country,” drawing parallels to the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler.
Despite his inflammatory comments, Trump continues to remain competitive in the polls, with the election shaping up to be one of the most contentious in recent history.