Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is sensationalizing the death of Kate Steinle as part of his anti-illegal immigration campaign, her brother Brad Steinle told CNN.
"Donald Trump talks about Kate Steinle like he knows her," Brad Steinle
told Anderson Cooper on Tuesday. "I've never heard a word from his campaign manager, never heard a word from him. It is disconcerting."
Brad Steinle and his parents have told Fox News channel they are apolitical,
but do favor a law named after Kate being pushed by Fox News Channel host Bill O'Reilly.
Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a 45-year-old Mexican national, is charged in her death, and the Steinles are critical of the sanctuary city policy that kept San Francisco officials from handing Lopez-Sanchez over to immigration officials.
When it comes to Trump, who is leading in the lastest GOP polls, Brad Steinle said, "I don't want to be affiliated with somebody that … doesn't have the common courtesy to reach out and ask about Kate and ask about our political views and what we want."
Trump's platform "isn't exactly what our family believes in," Brad Steinle told Cooper.
Steinle agreed that Trump is using his sister's name for his own political purposes.
"Sensationalizing it is not the route we would like to go," he said.
He suggested Trump talk with people before using their family member as part of his message.
Trump has gotten support from other people who had family members killed by illegal immigrants, and some appeared with him at two events over the weekend.
Brad Steinle also appeared on Fox News Channel's
"The Kelly File" on Monday and said President Barack Obama has not reached out to his family.
The White House, which has declined to take action against sanctuary cities, has not spoken about Kate Steinle's death.
"I’m not too politically savvy but there’s nobody who could look me in the eye and tell me that that man had any right to be walking free in the city of San Francisco with the ability to shoot my sister Kate," Brad Steinle told Kelly.
He said San Francisco's sanctuary city "essentially rolled out the red carpet for a convicted felon."
Brad Steinle also has criticized San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, saying his continued defense of city policy is "insulting" to the family.
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