Trump campaign ad says Democrats 'complicit' in murders committed by undocumented immigrants
Trump campaign attacks Democrats for holding "lawful citizens hostage."
— -- The Trump campaign came out with an explosive new campaign ad Saturday night that implies the Democrats could have blood on their hands because of the shutdown -- arguing they will be "complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants."
The ad was posted to Donald Trump's campaign website and YouTube page.
It shows footage of Luis Bracamontes, a 37-year-old man being tried on charges of killing two policy deputies in 2014 in a trial in California that began last week, according to the Sacramento Bee. Bracamontes is an illegal immigrant from Mexico who had been deported and returned to the U.S. illegally multiple times.
Bracamontes has confessed to killing the deputies in court, the Bee reports that his lawyers have argued that he is not mentally fit to stand trial. His wife also faces charges in the killings, according to the Bee.
The new Trump campaign ad doesn't specifically mention the shutdown but the accompanying press release says Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, led Democrats to hold "lawful citizens hostage over their demands for amnesty for illegal immigrants." The ad says President Trump is right to push for a border wall and deport illegal immigrants, going on to say that "Democrats who stand in our way will be complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants."
Schumer's office called the ad a "shameless attempt" by the president to distract from the shutdown.
"Rather than campaigning, he should do his job and negotiate a deal to open the government address the needs of the American people," Schumer's spokesman Matt House said in a statement.
Immigration has been at the center of the disagreements that led to the government shutdown. Democrats have insisted that any spending resolution include a fix for the DACA program and the president has said that he wants a bill to include funding for his proposed border wall.
Trump has been heavily criticized for his comments about illegal immigrants on the campaign trail, including comments that Mexican immigrants are criminals and rapists.
A 2015 study from the National Academies of Science actually found that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens and that areas with a large population of immigrants have lower crime rates.