Trump falsely calls Harris “mentally retarded” in speech on immigration.
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Trump falsely calls Harris “mentally retarded” in speech on immigration.

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Trump falsely calls Harris “mentally retarded” in speech on immigration.

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PRAIRIE DU CHIEN – Former President Donald Trump returned to Wisconsin on Saturday to deliver a speech in Prairie du Chien, a Mississippi River town of about 5,500 that is drawing strong attention from Republicans as they continue to provide voters with information on immigration.

The campaign finale was held indoors at the Prairie du Chien Area Arts Center, although the campaign initially planned for an outdoor event before the Secret Service expressed concerns about the ability to secure the event due to staffing shortages. The audience gathered about 300 people, but there were several hundred more people waiting outside than were admitted.

Trump spent most of his speech criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris over immigration. Harris visited the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday for the first time since becoming the Democratic presidential candidate and for the second time as vice president.

“What she did is completely disqualifying,” Trump said. “We had four years of incompetence. We cannot have four more years of incompetence.”

Trump said illegal immigration “is bigger than anything that has to do with the economy… it’s bigger in some ways because that’s the structure of our country.”

Trump at one point admitted that his hour-and-15-minute speech was “dark,” saying there would be celebratory cheers of “Make America Great Again” later in the speech. In characteristically rambling, sometimes nonsensical remarks, Trump criticized President Joe Biden’s beach trips and called Harris a “very stupid person” and “mentally retarded.”

“If Kamala is re-elected, your city and every city like it across the state of Wisconsin and across the country, in the heartland, on the coast, it doesn’t matter – it will be turned into a third-world hellhole,” Trump said.

Trump’s visit came 37 days before Election Day. Both Trump and Harris’ campaigns are crisscrossing the state with candidates and surrogates. Trump will return to the state on Tuesday to visit Democratic strongholds in Milwaukee and Dane County, while runner-up Doug Emhoff will campaign in Milwaukee the same day.

U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a native of Prairie du Chien, said he regretted that the former president’s visit “took place under better circumstances.”

“But leaders show up where they need to,” Van Orden said.

More: Trump and Harris increase trips to Wisconsin. See all the places they’ve been

Republicans are focusing on the case involving a suspected Venezuelan gang member

Over the past few weeks, Trump and Republicans running for Congress in Wisconsin have publicized a case in which Prairie du Chien police say a man with ties to Tren De Aragua, an international criminal organization based in Venezuela, sexually assaulted a woman and assaulted her daughter earlier this month.

Unlike the widely debunked claims by Trump and running mate U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio about Haitian migrants eating animals in Springfield, Ohio, most of the Republicans’ claims about Prairie du Chien were accurate.

Police say the victim and suspect knew each other, which is common in sexual assault cases, and that they had no contact with other gang members. The complaint says the suspect and victim lived together and had been dating for three weeks.

But Republicans also distorted the case by claiming that Madison police arrested and released the suspect in 2023. Both the Madison Police Department and the Dane County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that he was never in custody.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said officers tried to arrest him before he fled to Minnesota, where he was arrested and later released. Barnes said Madison detectives continued to work with federal law enforcement to apprehend him.

More: Was a Venezuelan gang member arrested in Prairie du Chien? Here’s what’s accurate and what’s not.

Prairie du Chien Police Chief Kyle Teynor, who was part of the speakers’ panel before Trump appeared on stage, reiterated that the department had no contact with any other gang members before or after the incident.

“Violence knows no nationality, it knows no immigration status, it knows no race, it knows no political affiliation,” Teynor said, ending his speech by encouraging participants to “use your voice in November.”

Teynor and Crawford County Sheriff Dale McCullick also spoke about fentanyl posing a challenge to the community, and McCullick supported Trump’s border policies.

William Garcia, chairman of the state’s Democratic 3rd Congressional District, told the Journal Sentinel that “it’s sad that (Republicans) decided to use a terrible incident to really divide the community.”

“Trump and Van Orden’s visit to transform Prairie du Chien into a place rife with crime and violence is completely false. This is a completely false narrative,” Garcia said.

Sexual assault is ubiquitous; immigrants are not more likely to commit crimes

Ian Henderson of the nonpartisan Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault noted that sexual violence is a pervasive problem and that victims and perpetrators “come from all walks of life.”

“A narrative that might lead people to believe that, for example, immigrants are more likely to commit sexual violence is not helpful,” Henderson said. “Anything that reinforces myths or prejudices that are not supported by what we know about sexual violence is not helpful.”

Neither are narratives promoting the “alien myth,” when in fact “most victims know the person who harmed them,” he said.

According to the state Department of Health Services, about one in three women and one in five men in Wisconsin will experience sexual violence in their lifetime.

A recent study funded by the National Institute of Justice using data from Texas – the only state that documents immigration status on criminal records – found that illegal immigrants are arrested at less than half the rate of native-born U.S. citizens for violent and drug crimes. This includes lower rates of assault and sexual assault.

More: What we found by reviewing 178 recent domestic violence-related homicides in Milwaukee

Democrats see an opportunity in a competitive race for Western Congress

In Crawford County, where Prairie du Chien is located, about 53% of voters cast ballots for Trump in 2020 and 46% for Biden. In the western part of the state is the competitive 3rd Congressional District, where Van Orden faces Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke.

“The Midwest was extremely powerful for us. This area has been incredibly powerful for us,” Trump said, encouraging people to vote early.

This district “homes a lot of our moderate and swing voters, it’s here in western Wisconsin that you can really change minds,” Garcia said.

Cooke recently released an ad in which she identifies herself as a moderate and states in part that she will “stand up to Democrats on a secure border.”

More: National Democrats are moving Derrick Van Orden’s race to the Red to Blue priority list.

Garcia said he hears from constituents concerned about immigration, but that’s mixed with concerns about the potential loss of undocumented workers who support Wisconsin’s dairy and agricultural sectors.

“It is very strange to talk about completely closing the border and deporting every undocumented person. “It would destroy Wisconsin’s economy,” he said. “And Republicans don’t seem to be able to give us a plan that does both.”

(This story has been updated to change or add a photo or video.)

More: Farmers and factories at the center of the immigration debate. Trump announced mass deportations.

Where to find help for sexual and domestic violence

  • The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 800-799-7233.
  • The Sojourner Family Peace Center in Milwaukee operates a 24-hour confidential hotline at 414-933-2722.
  • The Waukesha Women’s Center has a 24-hour hotline at 262-542-3828.
  • We Are Here Milwaukee provides information about culturally specific organizations at Weareheremke.org.
  • End Domestic Violence Wisconsin has a statewide directory of resources at endbusewi.org/get-help.
Website https://www.palestineresolution2021.ca

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