BOSTON — (CNN) “Donald Trump was right,” the two men said, according to police, as they beat a homeless man with a metal pipe and then urinated on him. “All these illegals need to be deported.”
Hours later, Trump responded — with regret and then some.
While the Republican front-runner had not heard about the particular incident when reporters asked him about before a town hall event Wednesday night, he nonetheless said it would “be a shame.” But he didn’t stop there, as he quickly went to applaud those who echo his views.
“I will say, the people that are following me are very passionate,” Trump said. “They love this country, they want this country to be great again.”
The two men, identified by police as Scott Leader, 38, and his brother, Steve Leader, 30, were being held in jail without bond Thursday. Authorities say they were on their way home from a Red Sox game when they came upon the victim sleeping near a train station, according to a police report.
Witnesses told police that the two men beat the victim with a metal pole repeatedly and walked away laughing, according to a press release from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.
The elder Leader brother, Scott, later told police they attacked him because he was “homeless,” “Hispanic,” and an “illegal immigrant.”
The victim told police that he awoke to the men urinating on him. He was brought to Boston Medical Center to be treated for a broken nose and serious bruising across his ribs, among other injuries, the press release said.
The victim is not undocumented, according to a Social Security number for the man listed in the police report but blacked out for privacy reasons. Social Security numbers are issued to U.S. citizens and authorized workers, according to the Social Security Administration website.
The Leader brothers, facing a number of assault and battery charges as well as gross lewdness, were ordered to be held without bail Wednesday, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. They are expected back in court on Sept. 3.
Calls to their lawyers were not immediately returned Thursday.
The physical attack comes after Trump’s divisive immigration proposals have made international headlines in his White House campaign.
Trump has called for a wall to be built along the U.S.-Mexican border, revoking citizenship of babies born in the U.S. to undocumented parents and deporting undocumented immigrants.
“I have to do the right thing,” the mogul said in an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo Wednesday, when asked about his immigration plan being under fire.
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