Which recorded interviews or rallies feature Trump's comments on Mexican immigrants and what were the exact quotes?

1. Trump’s 2015 campaign-launch line that became the defining quote

During the announcement and early campaign coverage in 2015, Trump said, “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,” a passage repeatedly cited and reproduced in Time, academic work and other outlets as a verbatim quote from his campaign remarks ^{[1] [2]}.

2. Television interviews and follow‑ups: Curiel, Hannity and “I can’t apologize for the truth”

In interviews and media appearances following the initial attack on Mexican immigrants, Trump told CNN that he was “building a wall” and invoked the Mexican heritage of Judge Gonzalo Curiel in explaining criticism, saying “They are not our friend, believe me,” and reiterating “I’m building a wall” in context ^[1]. On Fox News and in campaign press materials he defended his language about immigrants — “Look, the Mexican border is a sieve” and “I can never apologize for the truth” — phrasing reproduced in the campaign’s press release and archived records ^[3]. Reporting and fact checks also document his frequent use of the Kate Steinle case and comments like “I’m the only one who can fix it” when discussing immigrant crime in interviews ^[5].

3. White House and rally rhetoric about migrant “caravans” and invasions

As president, in remarks on border security Trump repeatedly characterized Central American migrant caravans as an existential threat, saying “At this very moment, large, well‑organized caravans of migrants are marching towards our southern border. Some people call it an ‘invasion.’ It’s like an invasion. They have violently overrun the Mexican border… These are tough people, in many cases,” language documented in White House remarks and reproduced in academic summaries of his speeches ^{[4] [6]}.

4. Rallies, praise of partner governments, and policing metaphors

Rallies and public events reflected the same themes: academic analyses and news accounts show Trump used dehumanizing metaphors and framed immigration as a security threat at multiple in‑person events, while at a 2020 Yuma rally he even praised Mexico’s cooperation with U.S. policy, a nuance scholars note in corpora of his speeches ^[7]. Campaign materials and reporting also quote him saying the border is “a sieve,” emphasizing porous‑border framing used across interviews and rallies ^{[3] [7]}.

5. How these quotes were recorded, circulated and contested

Major outlets and archives — Time, the White House transcript, BBC, academic theses and fact‑checking projects — have preserved and reproduced these exact lines, and fact‑checkers (Marshall Project and newspaper investigations) have traced how Trump used specific criminal cases like the Steinle killing to justify sweeping claims about immigrants, while noting factual contestation over the implication that immigrants are uniquely responsible for crime ^{[5] [8] [1]}. These sources also show journalists and scholars treating the lines as emblematic of an anti‑immigrant framing used consistently in both campaign and presidential rhetoric ^{[2] [7]}.

6. Limits of the record and competing interpretations

The available sources reliably record the quotes cited above but do not, by themselves, settle broader empirical claims about immigration and crime or the policy effects of the rhetoric; fact‑checking outlets and academic studies provide context and critique, pointing out uses of high‑profile criminal cases and metaphorical language to generalize about migrants ^{[5] [7]}. Alternative readings exist — including Trump campaign defenses that deny broad animus and emphasize targeted security concerns — and those defenses appear in campaign statements archived alongside the quoted lines ^[3].