Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will meet today in Los Angeles with the father of a high school football standout murdered by a gang member who was in the country without legal permission.
Trump told syndicated talk show host Dana Loesch he would meet with Jamiel Shaw — the father of Jamiel Shaw II — “and pay my respects to him.” A campaign aide confirmed the meeting to City News Service.
The elder Shaw praised Trump in interviews this week on the Fox News Channel and with Loesch for his criticism of illegal immigration.
Shaw told Loesch that Trump’s criticism of illegal immigration is “resonating in the black community because we see all the carnage that’s happened and all the memorials. We see all the jobs that are gone. We see the whole community changing.”
Jamiel Shaw II was a Los Angeles High School football standout who was shot and killed in 2008 near his Arlington Heights home by a gang member who prosecutors said mistakenly perceived him as a gang rival because he was carrying a red Spider-Man backpack.
Pedro Espinoza, convicted of first-degree murder in 2012 and sentenced to death, was living in the United States without legal permission at the time of the killing. He had been freed from jail two days before the shooting without immigration authorities placing a hold on him.
Trump also told Loesch he was asked to make a speech in California by the Oscar-winning actor-director Clint Eastwood, but did not provide more specifics.
The entertainment trade publication The Hollywood Reporter and the entertainment news website Deadline Hollywood have reported Trump is to speak tonight to the Friends of Abe, a group of conservatives who work in the entertainment industry.
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles Action Fund plans a rally, news conference and protest outside the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel in Brentwood, the reported site of the speech.
Trump has been under criticism from various groups for comments he made last month while announcing his bid for the presidency. He said in relation to immigrants, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with (them). They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Univision responded by cutting business ties with Trump, and NBC and Macy’s later followed suit. The PGA announced this week it was moving its Grand Slam of Golf event from the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes.
