National political rhetoric around violent crime and immigration has continued to spill into courtrooms long after the 2024 campaign ended. In Michigan, Brandon Ortiz-Vite, the man sentenced in the killing of Grand Rapids woman Ruby Garcia, has now brought that overlap directly into federal court with a handwritten lawsuit against President Donald Trump. The filing seeks $75.5 million and argues that public references to his case caused humiliation, emotional distress and lasting harm.
A handwritten federal filing names Trump and a White House aide
Brandon Ortiz-Vite, who is serving a 39- to 102-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in the Ruby Garcia case, filed the handwritten lawsuit in federal court on July 17, according to reporting that described the complaint and the relief requested. The suit names President Donald Trump and White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Steven Cheung as defendants and asks for $75.5 million in damages, counseling, court costs, a public apology and U.S. citizenship. Reporting on the filing said Ortiz-Vite submitted the case without an attorney from Chippewa Correctional Facility.
According to that reporting, Ortiz-Vite wrote that Trump spoke about him by name during the 2024 campaign and turned his case into a broader immigration talking point. He said the publicity damaged his dignity and affected his family while he was awaiting the outcome of the criminal case. The complaint, as described by multiple outlets, says he believed the national attention made his case impossible to separate from politics.
The lawsuit appears to be a civil filing rather than a challenge to his criminal conviction. Fox News reported the White House had been contacted for comment, but no response was included in that report. As of the published reports, no court ruling on the merits of the complaint had been described.
The local impact centers on Grand Rapids, where Ruby Garcia, 25, was found shot to death near U.S. 131 in March 2024. Reporting on the case said investigators concluded Garcia and Ortiz-Vite had been arguing in a vehicle before she was shot multiple times, after which her body was left near the roadway and her car was taken. Two days later, he called 911 from a church in Allegan County and confessed, according to the same reports.
Ortiz-Vite later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, carjacking, carrying a concealed weapon and felony firearm. Published accounts of the sentencing said Kent County Circuit Judge Mark Trusock sentenced him on November 7, 2024, to terms that add up to a minimum of 39 years in prison and a maximum of 102 years. Those details are central to why the lawsuit is drawing fresh attention in West Michigan now.
What is not yet publicly clear is how quickly the federal court will act on the complaint or whether amended filings will follow. Public reporting has not identified any scheduled hearing date tied to the new lawsuit. No broader list of related filings or responses from the named defendants had been publicly detailed in the coverage reviewed.
The broader context is the way Garcia’s killing became part of national immigration messaging during the 2024 presidential race. Fox News reported Trump highlighted Ortiz-Vite during a Grand Rapids campaign appearance and used the case as an example while discussing border policy and crimes committed by people in the country illegally. Ortiz-Vite’s filing, as described in published coverage, argues that this transformed him from a criminal defendant into a public political symbol.
That argument does not change the underlying conviction. One attorney interviewed by Fox News said he did not see a clear legal path for recovering damages based on the theory outlined in the complaint, particularly because Ortiz-Vite pleaded guilty and is not using this case to overturn that conviction. The article described the lawsuit instead as a window into what it was like for a defendant to see his case repeated on television and in campaign messaging.
For Michigan readers, the immediate effect is limited to a new federal civil case tied to an already well-known Grand Rapids homicide. There is no indication in the reviewed reporting that the criminal sentence has changed or that the lawsuit affects Garcia’s case in Kent County. For now, the practical next step is simply the federal court process, where judges will determine whether the handwritten complaint moves forward.