Trump Claims Border Crossers Bring Contagious Diseases and Terrorism
Former President Donald Trump asserted on Wednesday that people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border are bringing contagious diseases into the country, alongside threats of terrorism.
“They’re coming in as terrorists. Many, many terrorists are coming in, and people are coming in with very contagious disease,” Trump stated in an interview with New York radio station WABC. He highlighted a surge in diseases such as tuberculosis, which he claimed had not been prevalent in the U.S. for years.
This is not the first time Trump has made such claims. In September, he suggested in an interview with The National Pulse that illegal immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country” with diseases. He reiterated this point in December at a rally in New Hampshire, describing the influx of migrants as harmful and laden with various diseases.
During Wednesday’s interview, Trump also suggested that those crossing the border speak unknown languages, adding to the uncertainty about their identities. “We have no idea who they are, where they come from,” he said. “They speak languages we don’t even know about. We have people with languages that we know nothing about. It’s crazy.”
This rhetoric about an out-of-control southern border has been a staple of Trump’s public addresses. He often characterizes migrants from South and Central America as coming from “mental institutions” and “insane asylums.” At the National Rifle Association’s annual convention on Saturday, Trump proposed that South American countries are deliberately sending criminals and gang members to the U.S. “I’d do the same thing if I was there. I’d do it faster than them,” he remarked.
While Trump has consistently vowed to enhance border security and work closely with local law enforcement in border areas, he has been vague about the specific policies he would implement. Nevertheless, his criticism of President Joe Biden’s handling of the border remains a central theme in his campaign ads and fundraising efforts.
