President Donald Trump is not responsible for the deaths of a Salvadorian man and his 23-month-old daughter who drowned while crossing the bank of the Rio Grande to U.S. soil, conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh said Wednesday.
"Donald Trump is trying to come up with policies that would stop all of this," Limbaugh said. "It's the Democrat Party and the worldwide left encouraging this, encouraging these caravans, encouraging people in these Central American countries to send their kids and themselves on this nationwide trek, all the way up through Mexico, to get to the United States under this bogus, asylum-seeking policy."
Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez swam across the river Sunday with his daughter, Valeria. He set her on the U.S. bank of the river and started back for his wife, Tania Vanessa Alvos, when his daughter threw herself into the waters after she saw him move away. Martinez returned to grab Valeria, but the current swept them both away.
A harrowing image of the discovery of their bodies called attention to migrants' risks and drew reactions from around the world – Pope Francis said he was "praying for them and for all migrants who have lost their lives while seeking to flee war and misery."
The family planned to seek asylum, for refuge from the violence in their neighborhood. Ramirez was frustrated that his family was unable to present themselves to U.S. authorities to do so.
Trump also blamed Democrats for the high number of immigrants attempting to cross the border.
"If we had the right laws that the Democrats are not letting us have, those people, they wouldn't be coming up, they wouldn't be trying," he said.
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