Trump Campaign Uses Shutdown To Accuse Democrats Of Being Complicit In Murder

President Donald Trump has said he will only help undocumented young people he put in jeopardy if he gets a border wall and massive changes to legal immigration policy. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
President Donald Trump has said he will only help undocumented young people he put in jeopardy if he gets a border wall and massive changes to legal immigration policy. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

WASHINGTON ― It only took a government shutdown for President Donald Trump to return to his original campaign message: Undocumented immigrants are dangerous and out to get Americans.

Trump’s campaign released an ad on Saturday that pinned murders committed by undocumented immigrants directly on Democrats who are pushing for relief for so-called Dreamers, young people who came to the U.S. as children.

“President Trump is right: Build the wall. Deport criminals. Stop illegal immigration now,” a voiceover says. “Democrats who stand in our way will be complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants.”

The ad shows House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) before cutting to video of an undocumented immigrant on trial for killing two police officers.

All three lawmakers are advocates of immigration reform and oppose Trump’s border wall, but they aren’t open borders advocates or defenders of murder; the bills they’ve pushed exempt violent criminals from protections and include border security measures. Schumer even said he offered Trump funding for his wall on Friday, but that the president declined the deal.

But calling Democrats “complicit” in murder fit in with the White House’s messaging on the government shutdown, which happened when the Senate failed to pass a short-term government funding bill by the end of Friday. Most of the Senate Democratic caucus, plus four Republicans, voted against the bill, many of them saying they would not support funding without a fix for the 700,000 undocumented young people Trump put at risk of deportation by ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

While Trump and the White House have occasionally referred to those young people, often called Dreamers, in fairly sympathetic terms, they’re now characterizing them as “unlawful immigrants” whom Democrats insist on helping.

It’s a return to form for Trump, who launched his campaign by claiming that Mexico was sending rapists and other criminals across the border, has called for a U.S.-Mexico border wall and has highlighted crimes committed by people without legal status in the country.

While some undocumented immigrants do commit crimes separate from immigration, numerous studies have disputed the idea that immigrants are bringing more crime into the country.

Trump and his administration have also repeatedly attacked Democrats for their immigration stances. As part of a campaign against so-called “sanctuary cities,” a term for jurisdictions that limit their cooperation with deportation efforts to some degree, the administration has floated the idea of criminally prosecuting local officials.

Trump’s message from day one has been that immigrants are, first and foremost, a frightening threat. His administration has said it won’t discuss immigration measures until Democrats vote to reopen the government. In the meantime, he seems intent on insulting them and spreading fear about immigrants as much as possible.

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April 2015

At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”
At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”

June 2015

At a speech announcing his campaign: "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

August 2015

On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 
On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 

September 2015

On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”
On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”

November 2015

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 
On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 

February 2016

At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”
At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”

March 2016

At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”
At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”

April 2016

At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”
At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”

July 2016

At the Republican National Convention: "Tonight, I want every American whose demands for immigration security have been denied ― and every politician who has denied them ― to listen very closely to the words I am about to say. On January 21st of 2017, the day after I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced."

September 2016

At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”
At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”

September 2016

On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”
On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.