Trump claims global crime rates are down because violent offenders head  to the U.S. when they leave prison and says he wants to meet family of Ruby Garcia, 25, after she was 'murdered' by an illegal migrant

Former President Donald Trump is zeroing his messaging in on illegal immigration and linking it to crime as he heads to the midwest for his first campaign stops in more than two weeks on Tuesday.

Trump called in to a Michigan radio show on Monday ahead of a visit to Grand Rapids where he will be doing an event highlighting the border after the recent killing of 25-year-old Ruby Garcia allegedly by a man who was in the country illegally.

Garcia was shot and killed on March 22. Her body was found on the side of an expressway. 

25-year-old Brandon Ortiz-Vite is charged with her murder after turning himself in. Police said the victim and suspect were dating. 

25-year-old Ruby Garcia's body was found with gunshot wounds on the side of US-131 in Grand Rapids in March

Brandon Ortiz-Vite is charged with killing Ruby Garcia. Immigration officials said he was in the country illegally

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Ortiz-Vite was in the country illegally. He had been arrested and deported in 2020 but at some point re-entered the United States.

'This is a horrible incident with Ruby,' Trump said on the radio ahead of his visit. Trump also said he would love to have Garcia's family there if they want to be there.

'Let Ruby's relatives and everybody know that we'd love to say hello to them,' Trump told Justin Barclay on his radio program.

DailyMail.com followed up with the campaign to see if contact had been made with Garcia's family.

Trump speaking in New York on March 28. The ex-president is headed to Michigan and Wisconsin on Tuesday. Trump said immigration is the No. 1 issue in the 2024 election. His event in Michigan April 2 is focused on the border

Last month, Trump met with the family and friends of Laken Riley in Georgia. Riley became a symbol of the border crisis after an immigrant in the U.S. illegally was charged with her murder.

Trump has seized on highlighting illegal immigration and crime as he runs for a second term in the White House. 

The ex-president on Monday called immigration the 'number one issue' in the 2024 election.

During his radio interview, Trump stated that 'all over the world' countries are emptying their prisons and 'putting them in our country.'

It is the latest in a series of claims he has made at rallies and interviews.

Trump argued Monday that crime is down in other countries because criminals are flocking to the U.S. and slammed the Biden administration's handling of the border.

The Biden campaign has pushed back ahead of Trump's visit to Michigan, arguing the ex-president helped kill the bipartisan immigration deal negotiated in Congress to address the border. 

Jose Antonio Ibarra, who was charged with Laken Riley's murder, takes a booking photo via the Clarke County Sheriff's Office

The president's campaign touted that the bill would have created temporary emergency authority to allow the president to 'shut down the border' when there is an especially high number of asylum seekers as well as add 1,500 new Customs and Border Protection personnel, but Trump encouraged Republicans to reject it calling it weak.

Trump will also head to Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Tuesday for a campaign rally following his stop in Michigan.