Trump claims undocumented immigrants who commit murder have 'bad genes'

CNN
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Former President Donald Trump suggested Monday that undocumented immigrants who commit murder have “bad genes.” The latest example of this is the former president using dehumanizing rhetoric to incite fears about people who are in the country illegally.

In a radio interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” Trump again distorted immigration and crime statistics to attack Vice President Kamala Harris, falsely claiming that she was “allowing people to come across an open border, 13,000 of whom were murderers.”

“You know, a murderer, I believe that – it's in her genes. And we have a lot of bad genes in our country right now,” Trump said.

CNN has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

It was the latest example of Trump using dehumanizing and derogatory rhetoric as he targeted illegal immigrants and announced mass deportations if re-elected. Trump has made curbing illegal immigration a central part of his 2024 campaign message and regularly uses inflammatory and demeaning language when describing illegal immigrants.

Last fall, Trump said in an interview that undocumented immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country,” using language often used by white supremacists and nativists in comments that drew rebuke from civil rights groups. Trump has also spread false conspiracy theories about Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.

Trump has also invoked genetics before during the campaign, telling his supporters in Minnesota at a campaign stop in 2020: “You have good genes. A lot of it has to do with genes, right? The racehorse theory. Do you think we are that different? You have good genes in Minnesota.”

Racehorse theory comes from the idea of ​​horse breeding that selective breeding produces superior bloodlines.