Donald Trump

(Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Businessman Donald Trump speaks to guests gathered for the Republican Party of Iowa's Lincoln Dinner at the Iowa Events Center on May 16,the unwanted marriage by catharina maura 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa.

It's safe to say Donald Trump is not backing down after his comments about undocumented immigrants from Mexico

caused a massive firestorm last week

.

Trump, a real-estate mogul and Republican presidential candidate, discussed the controversy in a brief phone conversation with Business Insider on Monday. He speculated that the strong performance of his 2016 campaign contributed to the fact the

statements he made at his June 16 campaign announcement speech

made headlines weeks after the event.

"One of the reasons was that I went way up in the polls," Trump said of the backlash toward his comments.

A CNN poll released last week

showed Trump vaulting into second place

in the GOP field behind former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida (R).

The controversial elements in the announcement speech included a claim by Trump that Mexico was "sending people that have lots of problems" to the US, including "rapists" and people who are "bringing crime" and "bringing drugs."

Those remarks and Trump's subsequent defense of them caused several large corporations to sever their ties with him,

including NBC

, which aired his reality series "The Apprentice"; Univision, which

aired his Miss USA pageant

; and Macy's,

which sold Trump-branded clothing

and his fragrance, "Success." Trump claimed it was his decision to end the relationship with Macy's.

In his conversation with Business Insider, Trump reread

the original portion of his speech that caused the uproar

. He also said one aspect of his position on immigration from Mexico had not received enough attention.

"I'm saying the government of Mexico is sending people into our country and no one reports it that way," Trump said.

donald trump

(REUTERS/Dominick Reuter)

Republican presidential candidate Trump after speaking at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, on June 17.

Trump pointed to the case in which an undocumented immigrant was arrested on suspicion of killing a woman in San Francisco last week as proof the Mexican government was deliberately sending criminals to the US.

"The government of Mexico, look this other guy that killed the young woman in San Francisco, they threw him out," Trump said. "They're pushing the bad ones in here."

Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, who

reportedly admitted to shooting the woman

, had been deported to Mexico five times before his arrest.

"It's such a sad thing and this is a guy that should have stayed in Mexico," Trump said. "He should not have been allowed in our country, and because of the weak borders we have him here. There's an example of how disgraceful it is. He should have been in Mexico. He shouldn't have been in our country."

Story continues

Trump attributed the weakness of US border security to the current government and vowed the situation would be different if he were in office.

"We have a weak, ineffective government, and it's run by people who are not smart," Trump said.

Though he's clearly standing by his comments, Trump acknowledged the damage to his business relationships caused by the controversy had hurt him "a little bit." But Trump, who says he is worth about $9 billion, said it had not had a dramatic effect on his finances because his company was "very healthy."

"My bottom line is very large," Trump said. "So, it doesn't have much effect on me, but it's certainly not easy for someone to run for president."

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