Former President Donald Trump held a campaign event in Grand Rapids Tuesday, calling for increased border security and deportations in the wake of the murder of a Michigan woman by an immigrant living in the United States illegally.
During his speech, Trump was flanked by members of the Michigan Police Officers Association (MPOA), and standing head-and-shoulders above the rest at well over 6 feet tall, on his immediate left, was Leelanau County’s own Sheriff Mike Borkovich. This event put the sheriff ’s office back in the national spotlight as Borkovich could be seen behind the 2024 presidential candidate on the likes of Fox and NBC.
However, Borkovich denied that his appearance at the rally counted as a full endorsement of the Republican candidate. Instead, the county sheriff said that he was in Grand Rapids for what the Trump campaign is calling a “closed event,” in which all MPOA sheriffs were invited to give a “boots on the ground” perspective on illegal immigration in Michigan.
“I did not go down there for a political event; I went down there for border security issues,” Borkovich said. “Michigan sheriffs all share the same philosophy. We like people, we want them to be safe, this is the way to make our country safe and make the place better.”
About a dozen Michigan sheriffs attended the event, which Borkovich attributed partly to late notice. He said that the MPOA sent out invitations on March 30 during Easter weekend, and he himself did not see the email until 10 a.m. on Monday.
Nonetheless, Borkovich hurried down to Grand Rapids and was able to participate at an afternoon roundtable discussion with Trump and other police officers prior to the campaign event. Borkovich said that the topics discussed included human traffi cking and sex trafficking, as well as the distribution of illegal substances allegedly made in Mexico for sale in the U.S., like fentanyl and crystal methamphetamine.
“I have big concerns of the number of people being traffi cked here, in terms of cartels in Mexico are charging people $5-8,000 to get into U.S. People have to come up with that money, or mule drugs over the border in backpacks, or become sex slaves or indentured service laborers. I have big concerns about that. They want to come to America and they want to work, and they are being used by the cartels,” Borkovich said.
The Leelanau County sheriff maintained that he isn’t coming out in support of one candidate or the other, and he said that he “would welcome a meeting with Biden on the border crisis.” However, Borkovich praised Trump’s handling of border security and immigration during his 2016-2020 presidency, citing his construction of a border wall and threats to impose tariffs if Mexico didn’t crack down on people illegally crossing the border.
While Borkovich himself declined to personally give an endorsement to the newspaper, POAM President James Tignaneli offered the organization’s supporting during the April 2 rally, saying he hopes Trump will be re-elected in November.
Also at the event, Trump blamed current President Joe Biden for the murder of Ruby Garcia, the Grand Rapids woman found dead off U.S. Highway 131 in Grand Rapids on March 22. She was allegedly killed by Brandon Ortiz-Vite, a Mexicoborn man who was deported during the Trump presidency but since returned to the country and had been living here illegally before confessing to the murder.
“Under the Trump administration, this monster had been deported, thrown out of the country, wasn’t going to be able to come back,” Trump said. “Crooked Joe Biden let him come back and let him back in and he viciously killed Ruby.”
Borkovich himself described Garcia’s death as “the most recent outrageous murder that occurred in the country” perpetrated by people living in the U.S. illegally. However, he also stressed that his immigration concerns were not “anti Mexican,” openly admitted that he was a grandchild of immigrants himself, and stated his belief that there should be better programs for immigrant workers that lead to citizenship.
