With the Trump administration’s nonstop demonization of asylum-seekers and other immigrants as criminals to fear, it’s always worth remembering that gun-toting white terrorists are the country’s greatest threat to peace and security.
Police in Davie, FL, in Broward County, say that three people have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping, robbing, and beating up an undocumented immigrant last weekend, and then threatening to have the victim deported if police were contacted, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.
Authorities said more arrests could be made, as they believe the three suspects are part of a larger gang specifically targeting undocumented immigrants.
“It is believed that this group is targeting undocumented immigrants and robbing them for their cash,” Davie Police Sgt. Mark Leone told the newspaper. “We believe that they target these undocumented immigrants because they are less likely to report being a victim of a crime to the police.”
Last Saturday night, the unnamed victim was driving a pickup truck when the suspects hijacked the vehicle and kidnapped the driver at gunpoint. They then took the victim to a private home, where he was blindfolded, tied up, beaten, and robbed, according to the report. Police said at least four other assailants were in the home at the time.
They allegedly threatened to kill the victim and said he would be deported if he went to police. One of the assailants, 34-year-old Natalie Rebecca Williams, allegedly told the victim she would tell police he raped her if he reported the crime.
Also arrested were Joshua Aaron Greiff, 30, and Andres Rafael, 31. The three were charged with armed robbery, aggravated battery, and kidnapping, the Sun Sentinel reported. Seven people were said to have participated in the kidnapping.
Throughout his administration, Donald Trump has railed on undocumented immigrants, falsely accusing them of being murderous gang members and kidnappers, among other things, who are causing the U.S. crime rate to soar. He has continuously used this argument to call for billions of dollars in funding for a so-called border wall and to rally his xenophobic base.
In this week’s State of the Union address before Congress, Trump said, “Year after year, countless Americans are murdered by criminal illegal aliens.”
On Friday, in promising more border security, including better technology, personnel, and “barriers,” Vice President Mike Pence inaccurately referred to protecting the U.S. borders to the “north, south, east, and west.” Trump Republicans never were very good at geography.
Trumpians also aren’t very good at math. Last month, the president claimed the following:
“In the last two years, ICE officers made 266,000 arrests of aliens with criminal records including those charged or convicted of 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 violent killings. Over the years, thousands of Americans have been brutally killed by those who illegally entered our country and thousands more lives will be lost if we don’t act right now.”
But as ABC News reported, a national database that compares crimes by immigration status does not exist. What do exist are studies showing that overall crime rates are lower across the country among immigrant groups than among native-born people, as ABC noted.
This is just one more anecdote that contributes to that reality.