Donald Trump on Friday condemned the assault on a homeless man in Boston that the suspects said was inspired by his views on immigrants. 
 
 "Boston incident is terrible," Trump said on Twitter. "We need energy and passion, but we must treat each other with respect. I would never condone violence." 
 
 The Mexican government has confirmed that the homeless man police say was beaten by two brothers was a citizen of Mexico. 
 
 The brothers urinated on the 58-year-old man, punched him and beat him with a metal pole while he slept near a train station, and one of them said afterward that Trump was right about deporting "all these illegals," police said. 
 
 Daniel Hernandez Joseph, the consul general of Mexico in Boston, condemned the attack, saying his government would "take the necessary measures to defend the rights and interests of Mexicans," The Boston Globe reported. 
 
 The brothers, Scott Leader and Steve Leader, were being held without bail on charges including assault and indecent exposure. They pleaded not guilty. 
 
 Witnesses flagged down a state trooper at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday after they saw the attack and then saw the Leaders walk away laughing, prosecutors said. The victim was treated for a broken nose, serious bruises and other injuries. 
 
 Scott Leader told troopers after his arrest, "Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported," according to a state police report filed in court. 
 
 Trump, a Republican presidential candidate, has inflamed Latinos by describing Mexican immigrants as "criminals" and "rapists" and saying he would build a wall between the United States and Mexico to crack down on illegal immigration. He recently said he would deport the millions of people already in the United States illegally, sort them into groups of "good ones" and "bad ones" and then allow those deemed good to re-enter the country. 
 
 Following the attack, Trump reportedly said that it "would be a shame.” if his rhetoric inspired violence, but added that he found "the people that are following me are very passionate." 
 
 "They love this country," he said, according to the Boston Herald. "They want this country to be great again. But they are very passionate. I will say that.” 
 
 Attorneys who appeared with the brothers for their arraignment couldn't immediately be reached for comment. 
 
 Mexican officials said they would follow the investigation "very closely" to ensure that those responsible are held accountable. 
 
 Court records show Scott Leader served a year in prison for a hate crime against a Moroccan coffee shop worker after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the Globe said. 
 
 Copyright Associated Press ||||| The homeless man was lying on the ground, shaking, when police arrived early Wednesday. His face was soaked, apparently with urine, his nose broken, his chest and arms battered. 
 
 Police said two brothers from South Boston ambushed the 58-year-old as he slept outside of a Dorchester MBTA stop, and targeted him because he is Hispanic. One of the brothers said he was inspired in part by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. 
 
 The allegations ignited widespread condemnation Wednesday. 
 
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 Mayor Martin J. Walsh said the brothers “should be ashamed of themselves.” Boston’s top prosecutor, Daniel F. Conley, called the case “sickening.” 
 
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 Police Commissioner William B. Evans, a South Boston resident, said the brothers had given his neighborhood “a bad name.” He called it “a disgrace.” 
 
 Trump, told of the alleged assault, said “it would be a shame . . . I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate.” 
 
 Trump, in his campaign kickoff speech in June, made disparaging comments about Mexican immigrants that advocates feared could cause a backlash against immigrants. 
 
 In Dorchester District Court on Wednesday, Scott and Steve Leader, who have extensive criminal records, pleaded not guilty to multiple assault charges with a dangerous weapon, indecent exposure, and making threats. The men stayed behind a half-open door during their court hearing to avoid cameras; their lawyers declined to comment on the charges against them. 
 
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 Steve Leader is also charged with malicious destruction of property over $250 after he allegedly punched and kicked a cell door at the State Police barracks in South Boston. 
 
 Judge Lisa A. Grant ordered the men held without bail. 
 
 During the proceedings, Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Andrew Kettlewell described the attack as “vicious and unprovoked.” 
 
 According to State Police, the Leader brothers were on their way home from a Red Sox game when they found the victim sleeping near the John F. Kennedy/UMass stop on the Red Line. 
 
 He told police he was awakened by two men urinating on his face. He said they ripped away his blankets and sleeping bag, and started rummaging through his things. 
 
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 “Next thing . . . he was getting hit in the face and head,” according to the State Police report. “He remembers being punched several times and hit with the metal pole.” 
 
 The man was taken to Boston Medical Center, where he remained in fair condition Wednesday afternoon, a hospital spokeswoman said. The police report said he had a broken nose, bruises on his head, and a large bruise across his torso. 
 
 The brothers walked away from the scene laughing, a witness told State Police. 
 
 Alerted by witnesses, troopers arrested the brothers, and said the men continued to be disorderly in custody. Steve Leader allegedly urinated on his cell door, and both brothers allegedly made threats to staff members. 
 
 Police said Scott Leader, 38, told them it was OK to assault the man because he was Hispanic and homeless. 
 
 “Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported,” he allegedly told the police. 
 
 Scott Leader also told police that the homeless man had started the confrontation by attacking his brother Steve, 30, with the pole. 
 
 Witnesses told police they saw the men attack the homeless man. One woman said she saw him hunched over and clutching the pole, apparently to defend himself, according to the report. She told police one of the suspects grabbed the pole and struck him three or four times, including in the head. 
 
 Prosecutors and police said the Leader brothers have extensive criminal records. 
 
 Scott Leader was convicted of a hate crime and imprisoned for one year after attacking a Moroccan man in Boston days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, according to court records. Leader threw a cup at the man, who was working at a Dunkin’ Donuts, calling him “terrorist” and several ethnic slurs. 
 
 Similar attacks have flared up in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the nation, often after immigrants are in the news. 
 
 After the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, a man punched a Muslim woman in Malden. 
 
 In Milford, Latinos said drivers shouted epithets at them and tossed garbage as they walked down the street after a drunk driver here illegally from Ecuador struck and killed a motorcyclist in 2011. 
 
 And in 2009, an unauthorized immigrant from Guatemala was attacked with bricks, rocks, bottles, and sticks by youths in a Lynn park. 
 
 “Every time that immigrants are being scapegoated or targeted, something happens,” said Eva Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, an umbrella group of organizations in the state. 
 
 News of the Boston attack emerged on the same day that advocates for immigrants held a rally at the State House to urge Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican, to meet with them to discuss immigrant rights. After they waited several hours, Baker agreed to set a meeting. 
 
 Patricia Montes, executive director of Centro Presente, an East Boston nonprofit that organized the rally, said she hoped to steer the conversation away from the invective that has characterized Trump’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. 
 
 In his campaign kickoff speech in June, Trump suggested that most Mexican immigrants are criminals, saying they are “bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” 
 
 The speech ignited outrage and spurred Univision, NBC, Macy’s, and others to cut ties with Trump. 
 
 John R. Ellement, James Pindell, and Travis Andersen of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent Sarah Roberts contributed to this report. Maria Sacchetti can be reached at maria.sacchetti@globe.com . Follow her on Twitter @mariasacchetti. Sara DiNatale can be reached at sara.dinatale@globe.com . Follow her on Twitter at @sara_dinatale
– Donald Trump is taking another crack at responding to an assault in Boston reportedly committed in his name, this time with a little more feeling: "Boston incident is terrible," he tweets. "We need energy and passion, but we must treat each other with respect. I would never condone violence." The comments follow an assault in which two brothers allegedly beat a homeless Hispanic man and later invoked Trump's negative comments about immigrants, notes the Boston Herald. Initially, Trump called the assault a "shame" but quickly added that his followers were passionate, and critics accused of him of downplaying the violence. Or as Time puts it, he "flubbed" his first attempt. The 58-year-old victim is a citizen of Mexico, reports NECN. He was recuperating from a broken nose and other injuries.