NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday suggested that migrants who are in the U.S. and have committed murder did so because 鈥渋t鈥檚 in their genes.鈥 There are, he added, 鈥渁 lot of bad genes in our country right now.鈥
It鈥檚 the latest example of Trump alleging that immigrants are changing the hereditary makeup of the U.S. Last year, he evoked language to argue that immigrants entering the U.S. illegally are 鈥減oisoning the blood of our country."
Trump made the comments Monday in a radio interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt. He was criticizing his Democratic opponent for the 2024 presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris, when he pivoted to immigration, citing that the Department of Homeland Security says include cases from his administration.
鈥淗ow about allowing people to come through an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers? Many of them murdered far more than one person," Trump said. 鈥淎nd they鈥檙e now happily living in the United States. You know, now a murderer 鈥 I believe this: it鈥檚 in their genes. And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now. Then you had 425,000 people come into our country that shouldn鈥檛 be here that are criminals.鈥
Trump's campaign said his comments regarding genes were about murderers.
鈥淗e was clearly referring to murderers, not migrants. It鈥檚 pretty disgusting the media is always so quick to defend murderers, rapists, and illegal criminals if it means writing a bad headline about President Trump,鈥 Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign鈥檚 national press secretary, said in a statement.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales last month about the people under its supervision, including those not in ICE custody. That included 13,099 people who were found guilty of homicide and 425,431 people who are convicted criminals.
But those numbers span decades, including during Trump鈥檚 administration. And those who are not in ICE custody may be detained by state or local law enforcement agencies, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE.
The Harris campaign declined to comment.
Asked during her briefing with reporters on Monday about Trump鈥檚 鈥渂ad genes鈥 comment, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, 鈥淭hat type of language, it鈥檚 hateful, it鈥檚 disgusting, it鈥檚 inappropriate, it has no place in our country.鈥
The Biden administration , and Harris, seeking to address a vulnerability as she campaigns, on immigration.
The former president and Republican nominee has made illegal immigration a central part of his 2024 campaign, vowing to stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history if elected. He has a long history of comments maligning immigrants, including referring to them as 鈥渁nimals" and 鈥渒illers," and saying that they spread diseases.
Last month, during his debate with Harris, Trump Haitian immigrants in Ohio were abducting and eating pets.
As president, he questioned why the U.S. from Haiti and Africa rather than Norway and four congresswomen, all people of color and three of whom were born in the U.S., to 鈥済o back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.鈥
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Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.
