President Donald Trump on Tuesday night condemned New Jersey’s “left-wing radical” Democratic leaders for supporting so-called sanctuary city policies that he said allows criminals to roam free when they “should be taken the hell out of our country.”

In a visit to celebrate U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s defection from the Democratic Party to become a Republican, Trump did not name any of the New Jersey’s elected officials – notably Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who frequently uses Trump as a foil. But in a wide-ranging speech the Republican president sought to lump New Jersey’s Democratic leaders in with “socialists” like “crazy" Bernie Sanders.

“Democrats stand for crime, corruption and chaos,” Trump said. “Republicans stand for law, order and justice.”

Murphy had attacked Trump before he even arrived in the seaside resort, saying he has spent the last three years as president breaking promises and "embracing hate and division."

Trump, who was impeached in the House of Representatives, hit all the familiar themes of his rallies over roughly an hour at the Wildwoods Convention Center. He touted the country’s strong economy and took credit for New Jersey’s historic low unemployment rate, something that Murphy has claimed as an achievement. He decried the “impeachment hoax” and pledged to build a wall along the southern border. And he quickly turned his attention on the “fake” news media, to which the crowd responded with boos and middle fingers at reporters.

His appearance in Cape May County carried significance beyond it being in Van Drew’s Congressional district. It’s also one of two counties that challenged Attorney General Gurbir Grewal’s Immigrant Trust Directive that limits local law enforcement's cooperation with federal immigration officials. Trump’s Department of Justice last week joined Cape May and Ocean counties in a lawsuit challenging the directive.

The directive went into effect last year. It prohibits local police officers from stopping, searching or detaining individuals over immigration status or detain immigrants at the request of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, except in cases of serious or violent crimes or final deportation orders.

Standing before a sea of supporters wearing red “Make America Great Again” hats, Trump referred to a pair of incidents that he said showed how “sanctuary” policies result in “dangerous predators being set free.”

One case was in Cumberland County, where “they released an illegal alien criminal with multiple charges for sexual assault of a child.”

“He is now at large, free to search for another innocent victim,” Trump said.

Trump did not elaborate on the case, but he may have been referring to the release last year of Luciano Trejo-Dominguez. Customs officials and the county jail warden disputed whether ICE completed a detainer request before he was released.

Trejo-Dominguez was eventually taken into custody and indicted on sexual assault charges.

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Trump also cited a case in Middlesex County in which local authorities released a man and “he went on to commit a gruesome triple murder.”

Again, Trump did not offer many specifics but Middlesex County did release an illegal immigrant named Luis Rodrigo Perez, who was charged in a triple homicide in Missouri. His release came in 2018, before Grewal’s directive took effective. ICE said it had tried to deport him but Middlesex County did not cooperate and released him.

“I could read and state these cases to you all night,” Trump said. “No American should ever be hurt, harmed or killed because left-wing politicians – Democrats – decided to shield and shelter criminals.”

Grewal quickly responded to Trump on Twitter.

“I know this comes as a surprise, but @realDonaldTrump is lying about New Jersey’s immigration policies,” Grewal said. “We’re not providing ‘sanctuary’ to those who break the law. We're building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.”

Dustin Racioppi is a reporter in the New Jersey Statehouse. For unlimited access to his work covering New Jersey’s governor and political power structure, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: racioppi@northjersey.com Twitter: @dracioppi