Heinous crimes committed by illegal migrants under scrutiny ahead of 2024 election

Recent heinous crimes — from rape to murder — committed by illegal aliens are under scrutiny as more migrants enter the United States, making it a hot topic ahead of the 2024 election.

"We need borders. We have to stop the invasion of people into our country. And you know who's coming in? Prisoners, people from mental institutions, terrorists are coming into our country and millions and millions and millions of people," former President Donald Trump said Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania.

He also told a story about a "psychiatrist" who headed up a "mental institution in a South American country" who was extremely busy. The man reportedly said that changed when "all of our people [were] emptied out into the United States," according to Trump. 

Trump has told variations of this story on several occasions, but it could not be independently verified. 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has arrested more than 9,200 migrants with criminal convictions so far this fiscal year, which started in October, data shows. Most of those migrants, 5,332, were charged with illegal entry and reentry. Meanwhile, more than 1,400 were charged with driving under the influence and over 1,400 were charged with illegal drug possession or trafficking.

Thousands more criminal migrants have been arrested under the Biden administration than under the previous administration while record numbers of illegal migrants have entered the country since Trump left office.

With Trump already discussing it, the topic of illegal migration is likely to be a major point of contention in the 2024 presidential election. 

Additionally, illegal migrants have been responsible for several high-profile crimes in the past few months.

For example, last week a group of migrants outside of a shelter in New York City beat two men to the point that they needed to be hospitalized, police said, according to the New York Post.

Dallas police earlier this month announced the arrest of reported illegal migrant Oscar Sanchez Garcia, who is now facing multiple charges related to the deaths of three women, according to the local NBC affiliate.

Meanwhile, a machete fight earlier this month in Boston led to the arrest of three illegal migrant brothers, according to the Boston Herald.

In May, an illegal immigrant from Cuba was convicted of first-degree murder in Minnesota after he beheaded his girlfriend with a machete, the Post also reported.

Earlier that month, Texas officials announced the arrest of illegal migrant Francisco Oropesa, who was wanted in connection to five murders near Houston after he had been deported five times, according to Fox News.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March announced the arrest of 220 criminal illegal migrants with criminal convictions including rape and murder. The arrests took place during an operation that lasted from March 4 to March 13, Fox also reported.

While then-candidate Joe Biden criticized Trump's border policies as "inhumane" during the 2020 presidential campaign, other Republican candidates besides Trump are making migration a central part of their presidential race. For example, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping immigration bill into law in May just before the expiration of Title 42, the pandemic-era measure that allowed for the quick removal of migrants.

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