President Trump on Tuesday re-upped his call for a crackdown on illegal immigration after police revealed that the man accused of killing Indianapolis Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson in a suspected drunk driving accident is an undocumented immigrant.
“So disgraceful that a person illegally in our country killed @Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson,” Trump tweeted. “This is just one of many such preventable tragedies. We must get the Dems to get tough on the Border, and with illegal immigration, FAST!”
Jackson was killed on Sunday when a Ford F-150 struck him and another man on the side of a highway in Indianapolis. According to CNN, Indiana State Police identified the suspect as Manuel Orrego-Savala, a Guatemalan citizen who is in the U.S. illegally.
Orrego-Savala had twice been deported from the U.S., once in 2007 and again in 2009, CNN reported.
Trump has repeatedly pointed to crimes allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants to bolster his calls for ramping up border security and cracking down on illegal immigration.
One such case is that of Kate Steinle, a 32-year-old woman who was shot and killed in 2015 by an undocumented immigrant. Trump seized on the case during his 2016 presidential campaign as an example of the need to curb illegal immigration.
The man responsible for Steinle’s death, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, was acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges in November but was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Trump reacted angrily to that verdict, calling the acquittals “a complete travesty of justice.”