Trump Launches 2016 Presidential Campaign Calling Mexican Immigrants Rapists and Criminals

Donald Trump announces his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on June 16, 2015 at Trump Tower in New York City. In his opening speech, he states: "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best... They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people." The claim that Mexican immigrants are disproportionately criminals is directly contradicted by decades of criminological research; peer-reviewed studies consistently find that immigrants — documented and undocumented — commit crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans. Trump also calls for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and making Mexico pay for it. The speech frames immigration as an existential racial threat, a framing that drives his primary campaign and eventually his presidency. Trump wins the Republican nomination and the general election.