Trump claims global crime rates are down because violent offenders head  to the U.S. when they leave prison and says he wants to meet family of Ruby Garcia, 25, after she was ‘murdered’ by an illegal migrant

Former President Donald Trump is focusing his messaging on illegal immigration and linking it to crime as he heads to the Midwest for his first campaign stop in more than two weeks on Tuesday.

Trump called into a Michigan radio show on Monday before a visit to Grand Rapids, where he will hold an event highlighting the border after the recent murder of 25-year-old Ruby Garcia, allegedly by a man who was in the country illegally.

García was shot to death on March 22. Her body was found on the side of a highway.

Brandon Ortiz-Vite, 25, is charged with murder after turning himself in. Police said the victim and the suspect were dating.

Brandon Ortiz-Vite is accused of killing Ruby Garcia. Immigration officials said he was in the country illegally.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Ortiz-Vite was in the country illegally. He had been arrested and deported in 2020 but at some point he reentered the United States.

“This is a horrible incident with Ruby,” Trump said on the radio before his visit. Trump also said that he would love to have Garcia’s family there if they want to be there.

“Let Ruby’s family and everyone know that we would love to say hello,” Trump told Justin Barclay on his radio show.

DailyMail.com followed up on the campaign to see if contact had been made with Garcia’s family.

Trump speaking in New York on March 28. The former president heads to Michigan and Wisconsin on Tuesday. Trump said immigration is the number one issue in the 2024 election. His event in Michigan on April 2 focuses on the border.

Last month, Trump met with Laken Riley’s family and friends in Georgia. Riley became a symbol of the border crisis after an immigrant who was in the United States illegally was charged with her murder.

Trump has seized on the issue of illegal immigration and crime as he runs for a second term in the White House.

The former president on Monday called immigration the “number one issue” in the 2024 elections.

During his radio interview, Trump stated that “all over the world” countries are emptying their prisons and “putting them into our country.”

It is the latest in a series of statements he has made at rallies and interviews.

Trump argued Monday that crime has decreased in other countries because criminals are flocking to the United States and criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the border.

Biden’s campaign has pushed back ahead of Trump’s visit to Michigan, arguing that the former president helped undo the bipartisan immigration deal negotiated in Congress to address the border.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, charged with the murder of Laken Riley, takes a booking photo through the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office.

The president’s campaign touted that the bill would have created temporary emergency authority to allow the president to “shut down the border” when there are especially high numbers of asylum seekers, as well as add 1,500 new Customs and Border Protection personnel. , but Trump encouraged the Republicans. reject him by calling him weak.

Trump will also head to Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Tuesday for a campaign rally after his stop in Michigan.