Trump made Ruby Garcia's murder part of the border debate. Her family says he's lying about it.

Last month it was Laken Riley in Georgia. Now it's Ruby Garcia, a Michigan woman authorities say was killed by her undocumented partner, who is being thrust into the political spotlight by former President Donald Trump.

Garcia's case received little national publicity before Trump latched onto it this week. Yet it fits into a pattern of the former president seizing on a sensational story involving an undocumented individual to juice his campaign, which has focused heavily on the immigration issue.

Trump highlighted Garcia’s death during a speech in Michigan Tuesday, prompting critics to say he is politicizing her murder. Garcia’s sister also rebuked Trump for claiming he spoke with the slain woman’s family, which she said is not true.

Hardline immigration rhetoric always has been central to Trump's political brand, and he has taken a special interest in crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.

In kicking off his first campaign for president in 2016 at Trump Tower in New York City, Trump declared that "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best... they’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

The former president often focuses on the most lurid criminal cases. Garcia was shot multiple times and left on the side of the road.

Yet evidence suggests undocumented immigrants don’t commit crimes at higher rates than the general population, and some studies show they may commit crime at lower rates, although the data is limited said Graham Ousey, a professor at William & Mary who co-wrote the book "Immigration and Crime: Taking Stock," which summarizes research on the issue. The trends are the same for violent crime, he said.

“This is a big political issue, maybe a wedge issue that I think is being adopted for a specific purpose," Ousey said. "But I think the evidence that we have doesn’t really back up the idea that we’re facing a crime wave as a result of immigration generally, or even undocumented immigration more specifically.”

Data on homicides: Laken Riley's death made the news, but undocumented migrants commit fewer homicides

Yet polls show voters are concerned about immigration and crime, and Trump is leaning into the issues hard as he works to meld them together.

GOP strategist John Yob said the issue could help Trump win over soft Republican voters in the suburbs, particularly "soccer moms" concerned about public safety. Some of these voters have been turned off by Trump and issues such as Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, and GOP efforts to restrict abortion.

"The swing voting soccer moms... have morphed into security moms who are concerned about the safety of their families as illegal immigrants move north into their communities and commit violent crimes," said Yob, a GOP consultant who has worked extensively in Michigan GOP politics and on multiple presidential campaigns.

Trump echoed those comments Tuesday during the Grand Rapids event, saying "the suburban housewives actually like Donald Trump. You know why? Because I'm the one who's gonna keep them safe."

Trump's Michigan speech was billed as "remarks on Biden's border bloodbath" and the Republican National Committee rolled out a website Tuesday with the same theme.

An RNC press release said the website is "dedicated to highlighting the horrors of Biden Migrant Crime." Trump also sent out a fundraising email Tuesday with the subject line "Build the wall - Deport them all!"

Flanked by uniformed law enforcement officers Tuesday at the Grand Rapids Convention Center, Trump repeated comments he has made previously that crimes committed by undocumented immigrants constitutes "a new form of crime, it's called migrant crime."

"It should be called Biden migrant crime, but that's too long," Trump said.

The former president devoted a significant portion of his speech to Garcia, saying she was "savagely murdered by an illegal alien criminal."

Trump rallied his supporters around Riley's death earlier this year. A Georgia nursing student, Riley was murdered in February while jogging. Police charged Jose Antonio Ibarra, who is in the country illegally, with Riley's murder.

President Joe Biden also mentioned Riley during his State of the Union address. Biden called Ibarra "an illegal" and later said he regretted using the term, prompting Trump to criticize him.

Trump has accused Biden of not doing enough to stop illegal immigration, prompting Biden to point to bipartisan border legislation he supported and Trump opposed.

U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, a Democrat who represents the Grand Rapids area, also mentioned the border bill Tuesday in arguing that Trump is more interested in "political theatre" than solving the immigration problem.

“He’s come to our community to try to sow fear and hatred and division," Scholten said. "And when we are facing such a monumental crisis at our southern border what we need now more than ever is unity, bipartisanship and people who are willing to put the political theatre aside so we can get things done."

Garcia's case garnered attention in local media in west Michigan but received little national exposure until Tuesday.

Garcia's body was found along a road near downtown Grand Rapids late in the evening on March 22. Brandon Ortiz-Vite, 25, was charged with Garcia's murder and confessed to the crime. The two were in a romantic relationship, officials said.

Ortiz-Vite came to the country "unlawfully" as a child and was given legal status through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but that expired in 2019. He was deported in 2020, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but returned illegally to the U.S. at "an unknown date."

"We threw him out of the country and crooked Joe Biden took him back," Trump said Tuesday.

Scholten called it "deeply unsettling" and "horrifying" that Trump is trying to "politicize" Garcia's death, and said he is ignoring the fact that Garcia was a victim of domestic violence and that her alleged killer obtained the weapon illegally.

"Yes, absolutely we should be talking about the fact that the individual who killed her was in this country without proper authorization," she said, adding: "But make no mistake, Ruby Garcia also died because of domestic violence and because someone had a gun who shouldn’t have had one."

Scholten noted that many women are victims of domestic violence but "you don’t see the same kind of outrage."

"I think it’s very telling that they want to politicize the immigration aspect of this because that’s the only aspect that they’re talking about,” she added.

A woman who identified herself as Garcia's sister expressed frustration on Facebook that her death had become "political," saying "I hope reporters stop suing my sisters story to turn it into some political (expletive)." Riley's father voiced similar concerns in an interview that "she's being used somewhat politically," although other members of her family appeared with Trump at a rally last month in Georgia.

Trump said Tuesday he spoke with members of Garcia's family, but her sister told the FOX17 and Target 8 television stations that was false.

“He did not speak with any of us, so it was kind of shocking seeing that he had said that he had spoke with us, and misinforming people on live TV,” Mavi Garcia told Target 8.

Mavi Garcia also appeared to question Trump's focus on crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.

“It’s always been about illegal immigrants,” she said. “Nobody really speaks about when Americans do heinous crimes, and it’s kind of shocking why he would just bring up illegals. What about Americans who do heinous crimes like that?"

After highlighting Garcia's death Tuesday, Trump also briefly mentioned another murder by an undocumented immigrant last year in western Michigan.  Luis Bernal-Sosa was convicted in February of killing Leah Gomez. A statement from ICE says Bernal-Sosa was in the country illegally.

While Garcia's death is "tragic," Ousey said that focusing on Ortiz-Vite's immigration status "stereotypes and demonizes a group that doesn’t deserve it."

“It’s wrong and it’s unfortunate to suggest a person’s immigration status is somehow a causal factor in their behavior," Ousey said.

Yob said the murders deserve attention.

“Two murders in West Michigan is two too many and illegal immigrants do not have a right to be in our community and our voters have a right to feel safe in their own backyards," he said.

Pollster Doug Kaplan says immigration is a more potent issue than many Democrats realize, pointing to broad support for building the wall.

“People laughed at Donald Trump for it and now over 50% of the population says build the wall,” Kaplan said.

Yet Kaplan isn’t sure the issue will move college-educated women voters, as Republicans hope.

“Suburban women, will they care about that or Biden’s issues - Democracy, women’s issues?” Kaplan said. “It can go either way.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ruby Garcia's murder focus of Donald Trump immigration speech