Donald Trump is threatening that a proposed mass deportation of undocumented immigrants if he returns to power will result in blood being spilled, Reuters reported.
Speaking at a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday, the Republican nominee falsely claimed that "crime is through the roof" — it is near a 50-year low following a spike when he was president — and that it will get worse. "You haven't seen the migrant crime yet," he claimed. "It started, and it's vicious, but you haven't seen the extent of it yet."
In fact, immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes than native-born US citizens, according to a study of 150 years of U.S. Census data. Cities that have seen the largest increase in migrants, including New York City and Philadelphia, have seen that influx accompanied by plummeting rates of violent crime.
But Trump, who has long lied about the connection between immigrants and crime, claiming that foreigners are "poisoning the blood of the country," told supporters that asylum-seekers are taking over the country.
"In Colorado, they're so crazy they're taking over sections of the state," he falsely claimed, citing a bogus viral story about Venezuelan gangs taking over an apartment complex in Aurora, a claim denied by police, the city's Republican mayor and residents, who say the claim was spread by a slumlord to deflect blame for poor conditions at their property.
But Trump used the false story to segue to his proposed mass deportation of at least 12 million undocumented people, telling supporters that, "getting them back will be a bloody story."
As The New York Times previously reported, Trump's proposed deportations would be unprecedented in scale, requiring the building of "huge camps to detain people" and the creation of a deportation squad composed of "local police officers and National Guard soldiers voluntarily contributed by Republican-run states."
Trump's comments came the same day that he promised to carry out a sweeping crackdown on his political opponents should he win the 2024 election.
