Former President Donald Trump on Friday repeatedly called for using the death penalty against migrants who kill U.S. citizens and law enforcement officers.
“I’m hereby calling for the death penalty for any migrant who kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada.
The former president made the same remark at his rally in Aurora, Colorado, earlier in the day.
Trump has also previously called for using the death penalty against human and drug traffickers.
A Trump campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday night.
The comment comes as the former president ramps up his anti-immigrant rhetoric as he seeks to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, whom he has attempted to paint as the “border czar” at fault for the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
Trump has frequently portrayed noncitizens entering the United States as a threat to the livelihood and safety of Americans.
During his rally in Aurora, Trump used charged rhetoric, declaring that he would “rescue” the city that he characterized as “invaded and conquered” by migrants who entered the country illegally.
“I will rescue Aurora and every town that has been invaded and conquered,” Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that Colorado’s third-largest city is overrun by by gang members from Venezuela, and on Friday accused Harris of permitting “an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals” to enter the U.S. “from the dungeons of the Third World” and destroy cities like Aurora.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, a Republican, pushed back on such claims, saying last month that he wanted to show the former president “that the narrative is not accurate by any stretch of the imagination.”
Trump has spread similar claims that linked immigrants to violence in other states.
During the presidential debate last month, he amplified a baseless claim that Haitian immigrants’ were eating local pets in Springfield, Ohio, despite local officials saying they had received no credible reports of immigrants harming pets.
