Michigan Senate candidate and former Rep. Mike Rogers told Newsmax on Monday that the state "is going to be very competitive in November" partly due to the issue of rising crime from migrants who are in the United States illegally.
"There is no southern border anymore," Rogers said during an appearance on "Wake Up America." "These criminal elements are coming into places like Michigan and wreaking havoc in our local communities."
The "tragic story" of Ruby Garcia, 25, who was allegedly killed by an illegal migrant in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as well as the assault of a 14-year-old in Livingston County, Michigan, has brought the "big problems" of the southern border crisis "right to our doorstep," he said.
Garcia's accused killer "was deported" and had "a whole host of other criminal contacts with law enforcement," before he came back across the border as a got-away, "worked his way back up into Michigan and took the life of this young woman, who had her whole life ahead of her," Rogers said.
"It goes to show you how important it is to actually close the border and for [President Joe] Biden just to walk away from this problem, to me, is almost unforgivable," he said. "If you think about those criminal elements coming across the border, it's devastating and people are starting to worry now and now you're going to start separating Americans based on fear and are you here legally or not."
According to Rogers, there are now "criminal gangs" of illegal immigrants from Chile "operating in Michigan doing these very sophisticated burglaries," hitting homes big and small with "electronic gear that disables your alarms and gear that blocks police radios."
The former congressman said he had recently been in contact with the Oakland County sheriff, who thought they had put a stop to the crime wave, but "they just had a whole series of break-ins that happened over the last couple of weeks."
"Oddly enough, there are about 10 meetings in a row I had — different meetings, different business sectors, different people — where in each meeting they knew somebody, a neighbor, a friend, a family member, who had been hit by these gangs," he said. "They are very prolific."
"Our police officers are already overwhelmed with crime," he said. "We have seen a spike in assaults and other things across the state and now you have this new version of crime, which is the Biden migrant crime problem coming to your neighborhoods.
"It's jolting when you have your house ransacked like that. It's a violation of your personal safety, of your personal space. People are very, very concerned about it, and they're seeing it happen more and more and more. … This is a huge problem, and I don't think Americans are going to forgive the Biden administration and congressional Democrats for this. They have brought crime to their neighborhoods — nothing worse than that."
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