According to Mike Rogers, "a weak and porous southern border" is one of the factors contributing to the rampant crime in his state.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Rogers—a Republican seeking the Senate nomination in the swing state of Michigan and a former special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigations—states that "the economy, which is in the tank"—along with crime, the border, and security—are the central concerns of his campaign.

Rogers' Campaign

Rogers, who easily won the Republican Senate primary in August, will almost certainly face Democratic Representative Elissa Slotkin in the general election to replace retiring Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow.

In their quest to reclaim the Senate majority they lost in the 2020 campaign, Republicans are targeting this seat and a few others to turn them red in November.

Rogers gave an interview to Fox News Digital just a few minutes before he and other Republican leaders and law enforcement officials joined former President Donald Trump at a roundtable discussion.

After that, he stood behind Trump at a campaign event the following day, where the presumed nominee for the Republican presidential nomination attacked Vice President Joe Biden for his stance on crime and the crisis at the border between the United States and Mexico.

Rogers' Comments

"We’ve had a murder of Ruby Garcia, a horrific murder, right here in Kent County. We’ve had criminal cartel gangs operating in Oakland and Wayne County on the southeast side of the state for months now.

“They’re very organized, and they’re doing a lot of damage. All of that because of a weak and porous southern border," Rogers charged.

Following the March 22 homicide of Garcia, a 25-year-old woman purportedly murdered by an unauthorized immigrant who was deported to Mexico in 2020 but subsequently returned to the United States, the Trump visit ensued.

The discovery of Garcia's body by the side of the road in Grand Rapids has dominated social media and local conservative talk radio.

Garcia was reportedly romantically involved with the suspect, Brandon Ortiz-Vite, who told police he repeatedly shot her, according to the department's spokesperson.

Rogers' Case

Rogers argued, with reference to the roundtable discussion with law enforcement leaders who endorsed Trump minutes later, that they "have been kicked in the teeth by the Biden administration and Democrats for the past three years."

This is their chance to discuss substantive policy reforms that will assist them in safeguarding communities in Michigan. Rogers withdrew from politics in 2016, the year following Trump's inauguration as president.

He resumed his campaign activities in late 2022 and early 2023, conducting road tests of his message during stops in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada, the four early voting states in the Republican presidential nomination contest, as he considered a longshot for the nomination.

Additionally, he expressed in part that Trump's tenure as the party's leader had expired.