A Michigan man convicted of murdering his girlfriend in March 2024 has filed a handwritten federal lawsuit against President Donald Trump, claiming that the president’s use of his mugshot and immigration status in 2024 campaign material subjected him to public humiliation. Brandon Ortiz-Vite, 27, is demanding $75 million, a public apology, and U.S. citizenship — claims that legal experts say have virtually no chance of surviving in court.

Ortiz-Vite, previously removed from the country, is now incarcerated with a term ranging from 39 to 102 years for the March 2024 murder of Ruby Garcia. Garcia’s body was found dumped along a road in Grand Rapids with several gunshot wounds. The two were in a romantic relationship and were arguing at the time of the slaying, according to reporting on the case.

In the legal filing submitted to federal court, Ortiz-Vite has listed Trump and White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Steven Cheung as defendants. Acting as his own attorney, he alleges that Trump exploited his case for political advantage and that the resulting notoriety turned his imprisonment into an ordeal of scorn and isolation. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House.

How the Case Became a Campaign Talking Point

Ortiz-Vite’s prosecution drew national attention after Trump, who made combating illegal immigration a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign, traveled to Grand Rapids. During his remarks, Trump described Ortiz-Vite as "America’s problem." The president also displayed Ortiz-Vite’s booking photo in advertisements illustrating what he characterized as dangerous criminals residing in the U.S. unlawfully.

Ortiz-Vite claimed the publicity turned him into a one-dimensional symbol, stripping away his personhood and leaving only his ethnicity, his offense, and his immigration history to define him publicly. He wrote that the media attention destroyed his sense of self-worth and created enduring humiliation for his relatives.

He acknowledged taking full responsibility for the killing but argued that broadcasting his case for political gain was unjust and humiliating. In the filing, he described being placed “center stage in front of a nation,” subjected to what he called public scrutiny at its most intense. He said prison staff and other inmates mocked him after his face appeared in the ads.

A Prisoner’s Account of ‘a Nightmare’

Much of the handwritten complaint reads as a first-person narrative of anguish. Ortiz-Vite described learning from his attorneys that his case had become nationally prominent. He wrote that this left him feeling permanently stigmatized. He characterized his experience as a dual punishment: his prison term plus what he viewed as public vilification. He repeatedly emphasizes being reduced to nothing more than his crime.

The lawsuit seeks $75 million, though one summary of the complaint put the figure at $75.5 million. Alongside the monetary demand, Ortiz-Vite is asking for a public apology and, remarkably, U.S. citizenship — a request that sits in stark contradiction with his conviction and his prior removal from the country.

Why Legal Experts Say the Suit Will Fail

Attorneys familiar with prisoner litigation say the complaint faces steep, likely insurmountable obstacles. Defense attorney Matthew Borgula noted that federal law requires courts to screen inmate lawsuits before anyone is even served, and he predicted this filing would not clear that initial hurdle. He said the complaint “will likely not survive that screening.”

Borgula added that while presidential immunity covers official acts and campaign statements can sometimes fall outside that protection, the suit fails for more elementary reasons. He argued that the descriptions of Ortiz-Vite were substantially true and that being publicly embarrassed by a politician does not amount to a constitutional violation. His conclusion was blunt: the case should end before it begins.

Analysts point out that Ortiz-Vite’s murder conviction functions as a solid legal barrier to any claim of political victimization. Because his case was already public through the criminal justice system and his immigration record, the argument that Trump alone thrust him into infamy carries little legal weight. Courts, experts say, are unlikely to entertain the claims at all.

Prosecutors expect Ortiz-Vite to be deported once he completes his prison term — an outcome he has faced before. Tudor Dixon, a Michigan Republican, criticized the lawsuit as a display of arrogance and entitlement, echoing a broader conservative reaction to a convicted killer demanding citizenship from the government that prosecuted him.

For now, the complaint remains an extraordinary document: a man convicted of a fatal shooting, serving decades behind bars, asking a federal court to grant him the citizenship he was denied and to force an apology from the sitting president. Whether it advances beyond the mandatory screening stage will be the first — and, according to legal observers, possibly the last — test it faces.