Congressman Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, blamed GOP hopeful Donald Trump for recent acts of hate crimes.

"The leading frontrunner for the Republican party called Mexican immigrants 'rapists' and 'murderers'. And said 'well, by the way, I assume some of them are good people,'" Castro said at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Public Policy Conference, which is being held from Oct. 6 to 8.

According to Castro, Trump is to blame for recent hate crimes because of his views on immigration. The Texas congressman specifically named an incident where a Latino homeless man was beaten in Boston over the summer.

"They said 'because Trump is right. We should kick these people out of here,'" Castro told the crowd.

Back in August, two men brutally beat a Latino homeless man, urinated on him and thought it was OK because he was Latino and homeless. The men later said, "Donald Trump was right. All these illegals need to be deported."

Trump then took to Twitter to write, "Boston incident is terrible. We need energy and passion, but we must treat each other with respect. I would never condone violence."

Castro touched on anti-immigration issues from the past during the conference. "I believe that 2016 is the nation's Pete Wilson moment," the congressman said

He was referring to then-California Gov. Pete Wilson who held a major anti-immigration platform during his 1994 reelection campaign. Wilson, a Republican, was one the of biggest advocates for California's Proposition 187 that would prevent undocumented immigrants from using the state's public services including public school. 

Yet, after he left office, California shifted left and accommodated undocumented immigrants more. Today, it is one of the few states that issues Driver's Licenses undocumented immigrants.

The annual conference brings together Latino leaders, officials and supporters to participate in discussions about major policy issues affecting the Latino community including STEM, education, economy and the workforce, labor, health, immigration and more.