Trump campaigns in Michigan to make ‘Crime in America’ a priority

HOWELL, Michigan (WWMT) — Donald Trump pledged to prioritize ‘Crime in America’ if elected, while delivering a speech in the swing state of Michigan.

As part of a campaign aimed at countering the Democratic National Convention, Trump stood with sheriff’s deputies in the city of Howell and criticized Vice President Kamala Harris as the “leader” of a “Marxist attack on law enforcement” across the country.

He announced plans to reduce crime and make America “more safe,” especially along the southern border.

“Crime in America is out of control. I’m going to take it, along with the economy, inflation, strong borders and energy dominance. My top priority,” Trump said. “I’m taking crime in America with me. You know, normally that happens locally. And we’re going to help the locals a lot, like I did in the beginning, but not as much.

Trump discussed crime and safety on Tuesday afternoon.

“Terrorists are pouring into our country, totally unchecked, uncontrolled,” he said. “We have some of the worst terrorists in the world.”

Trump criticized Harris, who was a former San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and border czar under the Biden administration.

“She’s vice president. She could do it. She’s in charge of the border. She could have closed the border. She should have closed it,” the Republican presidential candidate said.

Republican senatorial candidate Mike Rogers agreed with Trump’s comments at the Michigan rally.

Rogers also believes that crime in the U.S. is skyrocketing. WWMT was there when Rogers spoke about “migrant crime,” a term Trump uses when talking about the border crisis.

“We had a minor that was assaulted by an illegal immigrant,” Rogers said. “Two assaults in Oakland County, one in the last month. One raped an 11-year-old girl, illegal immigrant.”

“We want to help the police, they have a very dangerous job,” Trump said during his speech.

Trump’s second agenda is to “make America safe again” by deploying the National Guard for a strong military response. He hopes this will also help ease the fentanyl crisis in the US.

“We will take down and dismantle the gangs, the vicious criminal networks, the bloodthirsty cartels, and we will stop the fentanyl,” he said.

The Republican candidate did indicate that he wants people of all races and ethnicities to be able to come to the US, but only legally.

This is the Republican candidate’s fifth visit to the Great Lakes state since February, following previous visits to Waterford, Grand Rapids and Detroit.

Meanwhile, Democrats in Chicago, who nominated Kamala Harris for the Democratic National Convention, called Trump a career criminal.

Harris held a narrow lead over Trump in popularity on Tuesday, according to a Pew Research Center report released Wednesday of about 9,201 adults, including 7,569 registered voters.

According to the report, about 44% of voters have a favorable opinion of Harris, an increase of 8 percentage points since May.

Another 42% of voters have a favorable opinion of Trump, an estimated increase of 3 percentage points over the past three months, the report found.

Editor’s Note: The National Bureau contributed to this report.