Immigration and crime will be the theme for the main event at day two of the Republican National Convention, with the party adopting a policy that includes mass deportations of those in the country illegally.
With a title of “Make America Safe Once Again” the session at 8 p.m. ET will focus on one of the key areas that Republicans see as a strength heading into November’s election: the southwest border and immigration more widely.
An official rundown of speakers in Milwaukee had not been announced as of Tuesday morning, but some prominent voices on immigration were included on a list released by the RNC for the entire event.
Among those listed were former acting director of ICE, Tom Homan, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
The brother of Rachel Morin — a Maryland woman murdered by a Salvadoran fugitive in 2023 — is expected to speak, while the story of Jocelyn Nungaray, the 12 year-old girl brutally assaulted and murdered in Houston, will likely play a role.
Plans for mass deportation
The GOP’s platform, published last week, stated that the party had a plan to secure the border and remove illegal immigrants who commit crime.
“Republicans offer an aggressive plan to stop the open-border policies that have opened the floodgates to a tidal wave of illegal Aliens, deadly drugs, and Migrant Crime,” the platform reads.
“We will end the Invasion at the Southern Border, restore Law and Order, protect American Sovereignty, and deliver a Safe and Prosperous Future for all Americans.”
The document did go into detail on how this might be achieved, but it did reflect longstanding views held by Donald Trump that President Joe Biden had not done enough to stem the flow of migrants.
One of the key points of the GOP’s immigration platform is mass deportation, which Trump previously claimed would involve sending 15 to 20 million undocumented immigrants back to their home countries.
In an interview with Time earlier this year, Trump said the military would be involved in such a plan and again claimed that those arriving at the southwest border were from prisons and mental institutions in other countries.
“We will be using local law enforcement. And we will absolutely start with the criminals that are coming in,” he said. “And we do have a new category of crime. It’s called migrant crime.”
“These are people that aren’t legally in our country,” Trump added. “This is an invasion of our country. An invasion like probably no country has ever seen before.”
Jocelyn Nungaray’s story backs up GOP claims
The Republican presidential nominee has used the story of Jocelyn Nungaray, the Texas girl allegedly murdered by two illegal immigrants in June.
Trump spoke to her mother on the phone just before his debate with Biden and, while he did not mention Jocelyn by name, used her case to highlight his immigration policies.
Jocelyn’s death has since prompted Texas Senator Ted Cruz – also expected to speak Tuesday — to push for legislative changes in her name, which would mean those released by border patrol would be subjected to closer monitoring.
“Jocelyn Nungaray’s horrific death was entirely preventable. The illegal aliens charged with murdering her should have been held in ICE custody, but they were allowed into the U.S. despite the availability of thousands of open detention center beds,” Cruz said in a press release last week. “No parent should have to feel the anguish that Jocelyn’s mother Alexis is suffering.”
“No family should have to live in fear that a violent criminal from another country is wandering their neighborhood intending to harm their children,” Cruz added. “No ICE or Border Patrol agent should have their hands tied when an illegal alien commits a crime. Congress needs to wake up and act decidedly to ensure that a tragedy like this never happens again.”
Claims that immigrants are committing more crimes than their American-born counterparts have been debunked repeatedly, with one recent study showing migrants living in Texas were committing far fewer homicides than U.S. citizens.
The American Civil Liberties Union has issued its own warnings about Trump’s plans for immigration, arguing that a second term would lead to even stricter policies than those introduced between 2016 and 2020, which included the controversial family separation program.
“These policies have no place in a democracy that protects or respects civil liberties and the rule of law,” Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in June.
“From the courts to the halls of Congress, we will use every tool at our disposal, including litigation, to defend the rights of immigrants and protect all members of our communities from the widespread damage these policies would cause.”
The ACLU’s studies also found that the majority of voters did not want to see more of the same “tough on immigration” policies and said they wanted to see politicians tackle the root causes of migration while also offering more humanitarian policies.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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