Former President Donald Trump to visit Grand Rapids Tuesday

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Former President Donald Trump will visit Grand Rapids next week.

He is expected to speak at DeVos Place Convention Center around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. A Thursday release indicated he will deliver remarks about President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.

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In a statement, Michigan Republican Party Chair Pete Hoekstra cited the death of 25-year-old Ruby Garcia, who authorities said was killed by Brandon Ortiz-Vite. He reentered the United States illegally after being deported in 2020.

“West Michigan Suburban families are now facing the fact that the worst issues of the Southern Border have now made their way into our backyard. This is now the second murder by an illegal immigrant in the last year in Kent County. One is a tragedy, two is a trend,” Hoekstra stated.

In both cases, the suspects were or had been in relationships with the women who were killed.

Michigan will again be an important battleground in the November election, which will again see Trump and Biden vying for the White House. A recent poll put the two in a statistical dead heat in Michigan, and both are expected to be in the state often before the election.

Democrats are making reproductive rights a key platform issue. Republicans are pointing to immigration and drugs.

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“West Michigan is not going to accept illegal immigrants making us feel unsafe in our community. President Trump deported this man back in 2020 and somehow he got back into the country. It’s unacceptable,” Hoekstra’s statement said. “President Trump has promised to secure our border, and focus on making our communities safe again and he will deliver.”

Arrests for illegal crossings at the southern border were at a record high in December, dropped significantly in January and then increased slightly in February, the Associated Press reported, citing federal data.

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