At a campaign stop in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump invoked the killing of a Michigan woman in an attempt to accuse his rival, President Joe Biden, of allowing a “bloodbath” of violence by immigrants that is “destroying the country.”

“The Democrats said 'please don’t call them animals.' I said, ‘no they’re not humans, they’re animals,’” Trump said at a Grand Rapids convention center, alongside Michigan GOP politicians and law enforcement officials. “Not one more innocent life should be lost to Biden migrant crime.”

The 25-year-old woman, Ruby Garcia, was allegedly shot and killed last month by Brandon Ortiz-Vite, a Mexican citizen police say Garcia was in a romantic relationship with and who had previously been deported. Trump said on Tuesday he spoke with her family, but Garca’s sister told a local TV news outlet the 2024 GOP presumptive nominee did not speak with them. Last week, her sister said she didn’t want Garcia’s story to be used for political purposes.

Michigan was the first stop of a two-stop midwestern swing state trip on Tuesday. He then traveled to Green Bay, Wisc., for a rally.

Laying the blame at the feet of his Democratic rival, Trump in Michigan highlighted other cases of violent crime where the accused suspects are migrants living in the country illegally. He rattled off countries and regions in the world with predominantly nonwhite populations that he claimed without evidence were intentionally sending criminals and mentally ill people to enter the U.S. illegally. He promised, if elected, he would launch the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, potentially resulting in the detention and expulsion of millions.

“Under crooked Joe Biden every state is now a border state. Every town is now a border town. Because Joe Biden has brought the carnage and chaos and killing from all over the world and dumped it straight into our backyards,” Trump said. “They're sending prisoners, murderers, drug dealers, mental patients and terrorists the worst they have in every country. All over the world. This isn't just in South America. They're coming from the Congo, from Yemen, from Somalia, from Syria. They come from all over the world. China.”

Trump also made his oft-repeated, false claim that “military age” men are being “sent” to the U.S. by these countries and that there are much fewer women entering the country. According to Census data analyzed by the Center for Migration Studies, roughly 46% of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. were women in 2019. 

“This is country-changing, it’s country-changing threatening and country-wrecking — they have wrecked our country,” Trump said of the flow of migrants entering the country. “It’s a border bloodbath. And it’s destroying our country. It’s a very bad thing happening.”

Trump has frequently described nonwhite migrants as invading and “poisoning the blood” of the country on the campaign trail, drawing comparisons from Democrats and historians to the dehumanizing rhetoric used by white supremacists, despots and dictators throughout history. It’s part of his strategy to use fear of migrants and crime to win votes in his rematch with Biden, whose handling of the humanitarian and political crisis at the border has polled poorly. Trump’s solution is a militarized border and the deportation of many undocumented immigrants, hundreds of thousands who came here as children and many more who have lived and worked here for decades.

Zeroing in on crime in recent weeks, Trump has distorted the reality of public safety in the U.S., capitalizing on Americans' widespread perceptions that crime has worsened in recent years. FBI statistics show overall violent crime dropped again in the U.S. last year, continuing a downward trend after a pandemic-era spike. In Michigan, violent crime hit a three-year low in 2022, the most recent available data. Crime in Michigan’s largest city, Detroit, is also down, with the fewest homicides last year since 1966.

A Stanford University report from last year found that immigrants were 30% less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born, white Americans. The right-wing Cato Institute reported in 2020 that immigrants, regardless of their legal status, were less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.

Biden, who opposes Trump’s harsh rhetoric and some of his draconian proposals, pushed for Congress to pass bipartisan legislation to fortify the border and expedite asylum claims. But the deal fell through when Trump opposed it on the grounds that new laws and funding addressing the situation at the border could benefit Biden and the Democrats in November.

“We’re hearing, clearly, awful rhetoric from the other side,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing on Tuesday.  “We know immigrants strengthen our country and our economy as well. It goes hand and hand.”

Jean-Pierre pointed to the eight maintenance workers who were filling potholes on Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, two of whom were found dead and another four who were missing but presumed dead after a cargo ship crashed into and destroyed the bridge last week. All of them were immigrants.

Biden and his campaign have emphasized Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy promises in an appeal to Spanish-speaking and immigrant communities. The campaign posted a clip of Trump calling for mass deportations on social media with the caption “Trump calls for mass detention camps and rounding up millions of Latinos.” 

But the Biden administration’s current policies are in some ways similar to Trump’s plans, albeit on a smaller scale. When BIden took office in 2021, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement had around 14,000 migrants in custody. As of March 24, ICE has 36,931 migrants in detention facilities, not including the hundreds of migrants living in open-air camps in the desert outside San Diego where food, water, shelter and medical care are severely lacking.

The Department of Homeland Security’s civil rights office is investigating accusations of mistreatment at the southern California camps, the agency told KPBS. Last week, the Biden administration argued in federal court they had no responsibility to feed or house migrant children in the camps until they’re transferred to official detention. At one camp in San Ysidro, Calif., three migrants died between Oct. 11, 2023, and Feb. 6, according to an immigrant advocacy group.

“We continue to see how [Biden’s border policies] lead to deaths of migrants seeking asylum,” said Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee's U.S.-Mexico Border Program, in a February statement. “President Biden must commit to protecting the asylum process, permitting migrants to safely seek asylum at the ports instead of relying on Border Patrol agents to force people to wait at open-air detention sites, exposing them to dangers and death.”

Trump continues attempt to draw in Christians in Green Bay

Though the bulk of Trump’s speech in Green Bay, Wisc., continued on his anti-immigrant themes from the Grand Rapids speech, Trump continued his appeal to Christians by chiding Biden for his remarks in honor of March 31 as Transgender Day of Visibility, which this year fell on Easter Sunday.

"What the hell was Biden thinking…such total disrespect to Christians," Trump remarked. "November 5 is going to be called something else — you know what it’s going to be called? Christian Visibility Day, when Christians turn out in numbers that nobody has ever seen before."

Transgender Day of Visibility occurs each year on March 31. Easter Sunday, meanwhile, shifts around the calendar — it falls on the first Sunday after the full mon following the spring equinox. 

On the same day that the White House published Biden’s remarks in honor of Transgender Day of Visibility, it also issued proclamations for Second Chance Month, Month of the Military Child, Care Workers Recognition Month, National Child Abuse month, National Public Health Week, Arab American Heritage Month, National Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Month, Cesar Chavez Day, National Donate Live Month and National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.

Trump’s remarks were part of his continued attempts to draw on the devout to his own flock. Trump has repeatedly called on Christians and Catholics to join his movement, insisting that Biden’s administration is waging a "war on Christians" and has promised to "createa a new federal task force on fighting anti-Christian bias" as part of his "fully-reformed Department of Justice, that is fair and equitable."

His pivot to religion has grown more prominent in recent weeks, as he took to hawking the "God Bless the USA Bible," a version of the Bible — backed by country music artist Lee Greenwood, famous for his song "God Bless the USA" — that includes copies of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance and the lyrics to Greenwood’s greatest hit. The books are $60 per copy.

"You have to have it for your heart, for your soul," Trump said in his pitch video posted to Rumble, the right-wing YouTube equivalent. “Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country. And I truly believe that we need to bring them back and have to bring them back fast. I think it’s one of the biggest problems we have. That’s why our country is going haywire. We’ve lost religion in our country.”

According to a New York Times report, Trump is getting royalties from sales of the Bible.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.