Democrat presidential candidate Julián Castro seemingly dismissed a woman who said her identity was stolen by an illegal immigrant, telling her “crime happens” during a town hall event on Fox News Thursday evening.
The former Obama administration official took a question from a woman in the audience. She explained that her Social Security number had been stolen and used by an illegal immigrant. While he was caught, he was eventually released, “never to be heard from again.”
“Would you be willing to penalize offenders taking advantage of Americans by having them not released if they are known to be illegal?” she asked Castro.
Instead of sympathizing with the woman’s plea and offering an emphatic “absolutely,” Castro opted to minimize the fact the woman’s Social Security number was stolen by someone who was in the country illegally.
“Regardless of circumstance, whether people are rich, or poor, no matter the color of their skin, what their background is, that people commit crime,” Castro said. “Crime happens.”
Democrat presidential candidate @JulianCastro's reaction when Arizona voter Jessica Welch tells him she was victimized by an illegal immigrant: "Crime happens." pic.twitter.com/At2UkPkjzN
— Official Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) June 13, 2019
Castro apologized for the woman’s “jarring” experience, adding, “Hopefully, that was resolved, OK.”
I have said very clearly that if somebody commits a crime like that, that they should be punished for that. It doesn’t matter who you are. Whether you’re an American citizen, whether you’re not an American citizen, whether you’re undocumented, if somebody commits that kind of crime, then of course, I believe that that person should be punished.
That, of course, did not answer the woman’s question. She asked if Castro would “penalize offenders taking advantage of Americans by having them not released” if they are illegal immigrants, specifically.
Castro continued to dodge the question and pivoted to the Democrat left’s “kids in cages” narrative, even though it had virtually nothing to do with the woman’s initial question.
What I don’t believe is that we should be incarcerating these women and children who are fleeing desperate circumstances in those countries and simply are looking for a better life, and then we’re keeping them in cages like animals, and keeping these men in 100 degree heat, underneath a bridge, they’re fenced in like animals, like a dog pound basically.
I believe that we’re better than that as Americans. And so, of course, we need to enforce those laws, whether it’s identity theft or it’s more serious crimes. I’ve said that very clearly.
He still did not answer the woman’s question, switching gears yet again and dismissing the need for a wall.
And we need to maintain a border that is secure, right? And we can get better in some ways about border security. You all may remember here in Arizona, a few — a couple of months ago, we had the largest bust of fentanyl in our nation’s history — 254 pounds of fentanyl.
But that didn’t come through the border. It came through one of the ports of entry, one of the checkpoints. Why don’t we invest more in ports of entry to catch more drug trafficking and human trafficking that happens there. That’s the kind of border security I think that we need to invest more in.
It is too early to tell if Castro’s “crime happens” gaffe will negatively affect him in the polls. He is currently averaging 0.5 percent.
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