Aiming to change the narrative on the contentious border policy that separated families, U.S. President Donald Trump met with what he called “Angel families” – people who’ve lost a loved one in violence related to illegal immigration.
“You hear the other side, you never hear this side,” Trump said.
READ MORE: Trump backs down on separating families, but migrant children still remain in custody
The families all held pictures of their lost loved ones, and told their stories at an event on Friday in Washington.
“These are the American citizens permanently separated from their loved ones. The word ‘permanently’ being the word that you have to think about. Permanently – they’re not separated for a day or two days, these are permanently separated because they were killed by criminal illegal aliens.”
WATCH: ‘You have one side, here’s the other’: Trump introduces Angel Families
Many of them held large photos of their loved ones, some of which the president autographed. Trump said that one of the victims looked like the actor Tom Selleck.
“Your loss will not have been in vain,” Trump said. “We will secure our borders, and we will make sure that they’re properly taken care of.”
The president also rattled off a litany of statistics that indicated that illegal immigrants commit violent crimes at a far higher rate than U.S. citizens, saying “you hear it’s like they’re better people than what we have, than our citizens. It’s not true.”
But his assertion has been contradicted by a number of studies, including one by the Cato Institute and another in the journal Criminology that found that places with higher percentages of undocumented immigrants do not have higher rates of crime.
A Homeland Security report said there were 972 calls reporting crimes to its Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement hotline from April 26 through Sept. 30 last year. The hotline handled a total of 4,602 calls including general comments. The report said some of the calls were made for victim impact statements that lead to the deportation of someone who commits a crime. Victims also testified in immigration court proceedings, and their calls led to the arrest and detention of others.
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At the event, Trump also bashed “the mayor of San Diego” for warning citizens about immigration agent raids. But the mayor of San Diego, Kevin Faulconer, is a Republican who did not provide a tip; a mayor who did was Libby Schaaf, a Democrat from Oakland.
*with files from Global news
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