Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced plans for a victim compensation fund at a news conference in Mar-a-Lago, Florida on Tuesday, intended to support people impacted by crimes allegedly committed by migrants. Trump proposed that, if reelected, his administration would fund this program by seizing assets from gangs:
"Today, I'm announcing that for the first time, under my administration, we will be seizing the assets of the criminal gangs and drug cartels, and we will use those assets to create a compensation fund to provide restitution for the victims of migrant crime. And the government will help in the restitution. But something has to be done, and we're going to get it done"
The announcement was made during an event attended by family members of crime victims, who spoke about their experiences in a video and in person. Among the testimonies was Tammy Nobles, who filed a $100 million lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security back in January following the rape and murder of her daughter by a suspected member of MS-13 gang who illegally entered the U.S.
"Homeland security did not do their job," said Nobles on Tuesday. "Health and Human Services did not do their job. The Biden-Harris administration did not do their job. If they would have done their job, made that one phone call to El Salvador, my daughter would still be alive today."
The former president also pledged stricter measures on undocumented migrants who commit violent crimes, alleging they will be "taken out of the country" under his "mass deportation" operation. He also promised that, if an illegal individual returns to the U.S., there will be "laws that will be immediately enacted where they serve ten years in prison, they won't come back."
He concluded by saying that he will seek the death penalty for any migrant who comes into the country and kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer.
Trump has framed border security as a key election issue, frequently criticizing the Biden administration's handling of migration, particularly at the U.S.-Mexico border, offering a mass deportation plan as a solution if elected. He has continuously mentioned the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as a blueprint for his proposal, a law which has historically been used only during times of war and allows for the expulsion of foreign nationals without due legal process.
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