Trump stands behind comments on Mexicans

by Elliot Smilowitz - 07/01/15 10:41 PM ET

Donald Trump refused to back down in the face of criticism of his recent comments about illegal immigrants in an interview with CNN on Wednesday.

The 2016 Republican presidential contender has faced a backlash for saying that Mexico was sending criminals and rapists across the border.

{mosads}He insisted he has the facts on his side, in an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon.

“If you look at the statistics of people coming, you look at the statistics on rape, on crime, on everything coming in illegally into this country, it’s mind-boggling,” Trump said.

He cited an article from Fusion on rapes of migrant women, noting, “You know who owns Fusion? Univision!”

When Lemon replied that the article is about rape victims and not perpetrators, Trump responded, “Well, somebody’s doing the raping, Don! I mean, somebody’s doing it! Who’s doing the raping? Who’s doing the raping?”

Trump is surging in the polls, recently coming in second in a national poll for the Republican White House race. But he’s faced a barrage of bad news since his initial comments, as NBC, Univision and Macy’s have recently cut ties with Trump products.

Tags Donald Trump