WATCH: Springfield, OH Mother Tells Vivek Her Daughter Was Chased By Machete-Wielding Migrant

Vivek Ramaswamy is the latest Republican to draw attention to the embattled midwestern town of Springfield, Ohio, where he met with residents including one mother who told him her daughter was recently chased by a migrant wielding a machete.

A clip of the town hall circulating on X shows the woman telling the former presidential candidate that she fears for the lives of her two daughters as their town has descended into chaos following an influx of migrants and the corresponding media circus. Some of the newly arrived migrant men are targeting young girls like hers, the woman tells Ramaswamy.

“She’s been followed around Walmart, she’s been stalked, she ran to her car, threw stuff down, she was chased. They were immigrants. She was chased by a man with a machete on her way to work,” the woman said. Police took more than two hours to respond after her daughter first called to report the threat, the woman added. “That’s how you know there’s no crime in Springfield, because no one’s reporting it.” A bustling audience applauded her story.

Ramaswamy, who has carved out a niche for himself on the right as a teller of hard truths, told those in attendance that cities like Springfield need to start being honest with themselves about how badly the nation’s immigration crisis has spiraled out of control. “It’s uncomfortable to say this, but it’s true.

If your first act of entering the country breaks the law, then you’re more likely to break the law when you’re already here.” When liberals tried to “nail” President Trump on the “family separation policy” enacted during his first term, they conveniently ignored that America currently incarcerates 350,000 mothers. “You know who we don’t make them take with them? Their children,” he argued.

“I think we have to restore the culture of a rule of law in this country. In this town alone, double the number of shoplifting crimes in the last two years. Auto thefts are up by over 50% in that same timeframe, and as you said in your daughter’s story that’s against the backdrop of many of them likely even going unreported…

Part of the reason we’re seeing this too, is many other illegal immigrants in this country, when they see the top law enforcement agencies in this country, themselves not following the law, then they rightly ask themselves the question ‘so why would I have to follow the law anyway?’” he asked.

During his campaign for president, Ramaswamy, a first-time candidate, boasted vociferous defenses of President Trump and was the first to call on the field of Republican rivals to pledge they would pardon him if the Justice Department convicted him of crimes.

Since dropping out in the spring, he has continued calling the government’s cases against Trump a “witch hunt,” coming to Trump’s defense as he seeks to dismiss his one remaining federal case. Ramaswamy and other MAGA supporters contend that the DOJ’s prosecution is politically motivated and point to the dismissal of its Florida classified documents case where a judge found special counsel Jack Smith was improperly appointed.