Story highlights Raul A. Reyes: Trump tried to justify policies linking undocumented immigrants to crime

Communities terrorized first by MS-13 gangs, then by immigration crackdown, he says

Raul A. Reyes is an attorney and member of the USA Today board of contributors. Follow him on Twitter @RaulAReyes. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) On his visit to Brentwood, New York, on Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump showed how little he understands the nuances of immigration, the signature issue of his campaign.

Railing against the MS-13 gang, he suggested that the Long Island suburbs are so out of control they are akin to Cambodia or Iraq. He continually veered off-message, riffing on his campaign, Obamacare, his popularity and a host of other subjects. Not content with praising the efforts of law enforcement, he encouraged them to commit acts of brutality against suspected criminals.

Trump said, "When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough. I said, 'Please, don't be too nice.' " It was bad enough that the Suffolk County Police Department released a statement Friday afternoon to emphasize its "strict rules and procedures" relating to the handling of prisoners and saying that "we do not and will not tolerate 'rough(ing)' up prisoners."

All this at a speech that was supposed to draw attention to the serious threat of gang violence on Long island and around the country. If that was really what the President wanted to achieve, then this was a speech that deserves to be termed Mission: Not Accomplished.

Trump came to Long Island because the MS-13 gang, which is known to target immigrants to the United States from countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, has been linked to gruesome killings there, and he wanted to highlight his administration's immigration enforcement policies. "We've started nipping it in the bud," he declared, referencing crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. He proudly referred to his comments made on the day he announced his presidential run, when he called immigrants from Mexico drug dealers and rapists -- in a sense, doubling down on the bigoted remarks that offended many Latinos.