Convicted Killer, Illegal Alien Sues Trump for $75 Million Over Campaign Trail Remarks
“I was put into a category. Who I was as a person no longer mattered! What only mattered was my race. My case and immigration status!”
In a breathtaking act of chutzpah, Mexican national Brandon Ortiz-Vite, 27, an illegal alien who is currently serving a 39- to 102-year prison sentence for murdering Grand Rapids, Michigan, woman Ruby Garcia in March 2024, is suing President Donald Trump for using his case as a political talking point. Fox News reports he is “demanding $75 million, a public apology, and U.S. citizenship.”
According to Fox, Ortiz-Vite, who was romantically involved with Garcia, shot her multiple times during an argument, and “dumped” her body on the side of a Michigan highway.
Ortiz-Vite’s case garnered national attention and was highlighted when Trump, who made combating illegal immigration a large part of his campaign, visited Grand Rapids in 2024. During his remarks, Trump labeled Ortiz-Vite as “America’s problem.”
He also featured Ortiz-Vite’s mugshot in commercials as an example of the “murderers, rapists , and drug traffickers” who resided illegally in the United States, The Midwesterner reported.
He was mocked by prison staff and other inmates, he said.
Ortiz-Vite, who acted as his own attorney, said his case came under intense media coverage, resulting in him living in a “nightmare”.
Grand Rapids convicted killer illegal alien sues Trump — demands counseling, public apology, $75.5 million, and citizenship! https://t.co/FSpP8GMqfT
— The Midwesterner (@Th_Midwesterner) July 20, 2026
Below is courtroom video from his sentencing hearing.
🚨 WTF?! Illegal alien who k*lled Ruby Garcia is SUING Donald Trump for using his mugshot, demanding "US CITIZENSHIP and MILLIONS OF DOLLARS" as damages
What a JOKE from a DEPRAVED monster. He's in prison for 39 years.
Brandon Ortiz-Vite's federal lawsuit has officially been… pic.twitter.com/QpSHlgUavh
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 20, 2026
In a handwritten complaint filed in U.S. District Court last week, Ortiz-Vite named Trump and White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Steven Cheung as defendants. [Complaint via The Midwesterner.]
He wrote, “I was put into a category. Who I was as a person no longer mattered! What only mattered was my race. My case and immigration status!”
Actually, what matters is that Ortiz-Vite entered the country illegally, was deported, returned, and then murdered a U.S. citizen.
Yet, in the words that follow, he plays the victim. He claims he was cruelly singled out by President Trump for political gain and “labeled a cold blooded murderer in the eyes of the people of this nation.”
Imagine calling a cold-blooded murderer a cold-blooded murderer.
Nevertheless, he continued:
Once again, it belittled me, shattered my dignity and what I was as a person.
The shame it brought to my family name is a reality I have to live with now. I took full responsibility for my actions but for them to use my case for political gain on TV was unjust. Humiliating. When I thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. I was center stage in front of a nation, public scrutiny at its finest!
It all became clear to me when I first met with my court appointed attorneys. They explained how my case had gotten blown out of (proportion) and was now a high profile case! The shock in their eyes and the tears from mine was reaction to my realization that I was living everyone’s worst nightmare! To be publicly infamous. A target! To the United States of America from here everything went downhill. I was now labeled a cold blooded murderer in the eyes of the people of this nation.
The anxiety and despair I felt compares to no other.
It’s safe to say Ruby Garcia’s family knows a little something about anxiety and despair, too.
WZZM-13 reported that Ortiz-Vite apologized to Garcia’s family and to “all immigrants from all walks of life” for his actions at his November 2024 sentencing hearing.
Kent County Circuit Court Judge Mark Trusock showed little sympathy, describing Ortiz-Vite as a “cold-blooded murderer.” He said:
This, sir, was a cold-blooded, intentional killing. This young lady was shot several times, and then you put the gun right to her head and pulled the trigger. There is just no reason for this, no justification, no excuse whatsoever. You, sir, are a cold-blooded murderer. This is an intentional crime, and you are a danger to society. You are a very violent individual, and you need to be removed from society.
Unsurprisingly, criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor Matthew Borgula told Fox News that Ortiz-Vite’s lawsuit is “unlikely to succeed.”
“Federal law requires courts to screen prisoner suits before anyone is served. This complaint will likely not survive that screening,” Borgula said. “Also, Presidential immunity covers official acts, and campaign statements can fall outside it — but this suit fails for more basic reasons.”
He added that Trump’s remarks were “substantially true, and being publicly embarrassed by a politician isn’t a constitutional violation. This case should end before it begins.”
In comments to local media outlet MLive, Borgula said, “While the plaintiff may feel aggrieved, I don’t see that a federal court can offer a remedy. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Once you’ve done that, I don’t see a legal avenue for collecting damages on a theory that your conviction was unfair.”
Whether Ortiz-Vite feels humiliated by Trump’s campaign rhetoric is ultimately beside the point. As Borgula noted, truth is a defense, and publicly discussing a case that resulted in a guilty plea to second-degree murder is not a constitutional violation.
Nice try, though.
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
How about we extradite him to hell? I’ll drive
I’m with you Charon!
Unsurprisingly, criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor Matthew Borgula told Fox News that Ortiz-Vite’s lawsuit is “unlikely to succeed.”
Anyone around this case should be held accountable. How disgusting.
Hey, Marc Elias, here’s a pro malum, uh, pro bono case for you to handle.
You can bet that either Elias, Norm Eisen and Mary Dohrmann were asked if they were interested in taking this case. I am thinking the Democrats will look more towards the various legal teams representing the Maryland Man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
It sounds like absolutely no professionals were involved in the making of this disaster movie.
Is it too late to try him again on Federal civil rights charges and go for the death penalty?
Cool story bruh, good luck paying out the sanctions you should be hit with out of your prison commissary account. Maybe, just maybe, the sanctions should be assigned to the Mexican Government since they seem very keen lately to insert themselves into our Judicial process so handing them the bill should really be viewed as a welcoming gesture. They don’t have to pay it but they don’t have to be allowed 53 Consulates in the USA either. If they refuse then decreasing the # from 53 to 9 seems fair as that’s how many US Consulates the US operates in Mexico.
suing President Donald Trump for using his case as a political talking point
Yeah, I don’t see anywhere in here what the cause of action is. If it’s defamation, it will be a no sale. You can’t sue someone for “embarrassing” you. Nor for making people laugh at you. You can sue someone for defaming you – but you have to show it harms your reputation (you’re a murderer and an illegal alien, dude) and that it’s untrue (you plead guilty and there was plenty of evidence, it seems).
Isn’t the first thing you have to do when filing a lawsuit is identify the cause of action (I think that’s what it’s called), specifically?
He’s embarrassed
He’s a murderer
Ok
He sounds butt-hurt.
Considering his current situation, that may indeed be true.
This is how far we have fallen as a country
Just the legal profession.
Nah, we’ve always had crazy people filing stupid suits, pro se and in forma pauperis, and usually in crayon. This is nothing new.
Guess this yoyo never heard of the Streisand effect.
He’s never heard of a lot of things, starting with “cause of action”.
This attorney should be disbarred, just for starters, for actually filing this.
My mistake if he filed this himself…
He did. Lots of prisoners do this with nothing better to do.
Seems to me he put himself into some of those “categories.”
He wasn’t humiliated when he murdered Ruby Garcia and was quickly arrested?
This will get tossed.
Let me guess, filed pro se, in forma pauperis, and in crayon.
I’m not seeing a cause of action.
Yes, he surely did that.
Yes, that is 100% correct. That is indeed what Trump did.
In other words, his race, his case, and his immigration status. Exactly as he alleges. All that’s missing is a cause of action. An explanation of why what Trump did was wrong. Of which law he broke in doing all that. What law gives the plaintiff the right not to have these things done to him.
with the right judge, he will prevail,…after all, E Jeanne Carroll did with a similarly ridiculous lawsuit
No, she had a cause of action. An obviously false one, but she had it.
This guy is actually the exact opposite of Carroll.
If Carroll’s story were true, then she would be in the right and Trump would be an evil bastard who owed her a lot of money. The only problem with her case is that her story was obviously false.
This guy is the opposite. His story is absolutely true, without a doubt, The flaw in his case is that he hasn’t got one.
the problem is ours!
as soon as he was convicted (and there appears to no question he is guilty), the judge should have given him three choices:
1. firing squad
2. hanging
3. guillotine
to be accomplished the following day.
To be carried out immediately! Yes, immediately!
I’m fine with noon the following day.
Hmm…if he really wants to win, he needs to amend his complaint by fabricating a story about being assaulted at Bergdorf Goodman in the 90s and refile in NY.
The hubris, the whining, the sense of entitlement, that chin in the air. Why if Barack Obama had a Mexican son it would look and act like Brandon.
The murderer’s identity, actions, nationality and criminal conviction are all public record. Publicly stating those facts, and even making critical comments are not torts. The prisoner embarrassed himself, but apparently is incapable of shame, as evidenced by that filing. There is no cause of action.
Huh, so the guy did the crime and got convicted for doing the crime. I think the truth is a pretty damn good defense for the president here.
Stuff this POS in a barrel and bury him at sea.
Once again, Mexican is not a race.
What a repulsive piece of garbage this man is. He murderers a person, gets convicted of murdering that person, is in the country illegally, and intends to SUE President Trump over remarks that he made? How can any decent Attorney even consider taking on a ludicrous case like that ?
No attorney ever would consider that. And none has.
I believe the legal term here would be “no locus standi”