GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A Mexican national who is in the U.S. illegally was sentenced Thursday to 39 years in a Michigan prison for killing his girlfriend, a crime that suddenly was thrust into the U.S. presidential race because of the man's immigration status.

"The actions I took on the night of March 22 do not define who my people are. I apologize with the utmost respect to all immigrants from all walks of life," Brandon Ortiz Vite told a judge in Grand Rapids.

Ortiz Vite, 26, pleaded guilty in September to murder and other crimes.

Ruby Garcia was found shot to death on the side of a Grand Rapids highway.

She and Ortiz Vite had been in a car on U.S. 131, arguing about their relationship, when he shot her in the head, removed her body from the car and drove away, investigators said.

Last spring, former President Donald Trump publicly accused the Biden administration of failing to keep Ortiz Vite out of the country after he was deported in 2020. But it's not known whether he returned to the U.S. during the last year of the Trump administration or during the Biden administration.

AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of more than 115,000 voters nationwide, found that Trump's supporters on Election Day were largely focused on immigration and inflation.

"You, sir, are a cold-blooded murderer," Judge Mark Trusock told Ortiz Vite. "This is an intentional crime, and you are a danger to society."

Ortiz Vite suggested he was using drugs that day.

"I can't explain my mind that night," he said. "However, deep down within, I knew I was wrong."