The Border Patrol union unanimously endorsed Donald Trump onstage at an Arizona rally on Sunday, contrasting the former president’s strong record on illegal immigration with that of “border czar Harris.”
“If we allow border czar Harris to win this election, every city, every community in this great country, is going to go to hell,” National Border Patrol Council president Paul Perez said in Prescott Valley, Ariz.
“The untold millions of people, unvetted, who she has allowed into this country that are committing murders, rapes, robberies, burglaries, and every other crime will continue to put our country in peril,” Perez added. “Only one man can fix that, and that is Donald J. Trump. He has always stood with the men and women who protect this border.”
The NBPC, which represents over 16,000 of some 20,000 Border Patrol agents, endorsed Trump during his last two presidential campaigns.
With union members by his side, Trump unveiled a plan to hire 10,000 new Border Patrol agents and ask Congress to immediately approve a 10 percent raise for all agents should he be reelected next month. The GOP nominee also said he would give border agents a $10,000 retention and signing bonus. “Haven’t had one in a long time,” Trump said while announcing the move.
Soon after taking office, President Joe Biden handed Harris immigration policy as a key piece of her vice-presidential portfolio. But rather than engaging with the lax enforcement policies that led to record illegal immigration under Biden, Harris insisted that her task was limited to addressing “root causes” of migration, which she identified as a lack of economic opportunity in Central and South America.
The Trump campaign noted that then-Senator Harris (D., Calif.) in 2018 led Democrats to reject Trump’s proposal for funding additional Border Patrol personnel.
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