On a dirt road beneath the shrub-strewn hills of Arizona, Donald Trump He used a section of wall and a pile of steel beams to create a visual contrast between his approach to securing the border and that of his Democratic opponent, the vice president. Kamala Harris.
Trump brought with him grieving mothers, the Cochise County sheriff and the head of the Border Patrol union to echo his tough message on border security during Thursday’s visit, whose theme was “Making America Safe Again.”
“To my right is what we call the Trump wall. That’s a wall that was built under the Trump presidency,” said Paul Perez, president of the Border Patrol union. “To my left is what we call the Kamala wall. It’s just lying there, doing nothing.”
The Biden administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the wall construction.
The visit is the fourth in a series of events this week in key states aimed at distracting from Democrats’ celebration of Harris’ presidential nomination in Chicago. Speakers at Wednesday night’s convention accused Trump of using the border to whip up his base by demonizing immigrants.
OLIVIER TOURON/AFP via Getty Images
Mothers of children killed under the Biden administration in cases involving illegal immigrants also attended Thursday’s border visit. Trump often highlights attacks involving immigrants to fuel concerns about Biden administration policies, though some studies have shown that people living in the United States illegally are less likely than native-born Americans to have been arrested for violent, drug and property crimes.
“I really, really, really want everyone to consider the importance of border control because we are losing very innocent people to heinous crimes,” said Alexis Nungaray, mother of a 12-year-old. Name Jocelynewho was strangled to death in Houston in June.
At the Arizona event, snipers stood nearby in an elevated position, their eyes and weapons trained on Mexico, a day after Trump held his first outdoor rally Since an assassination attempt last month, security forces have also been visible on the Mexican side of the border, including several men armed with rifles and tactical gear. Others wore uniforms identifying them as members of the Mexican state police.
“What Biden and Kamala have done to the families here with me and so many others, thousands and thousands of others, not only killed, but very seriously injured, seriously injured to the point where they will never be able to live a normal life again. It’s shameful and it’s wrong,” Trump said.
On his tour of key states this week, Trump visited Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina and will hold events in Las Vegas and the Phoenix suburb of Glendale on Friday. His running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, spoke in the same place near the border a few weeks ago.
In the first four months of 2024, the Border Patrol recorded more than 250,000 migrant apprehensions in the Tucson sector, which includes Cochise County. That’s the most of any region the agency patrols, according to government statistics.
But in last monthsThe number of illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border has dropped lowest level in yearsaccording to Customs and Border Protection data obtained by CBS News, following President Biden’s resignation order limiting asylum and Mexico’s measures to prevent migrants from heading north.
Democratic lawmakers argued Wednesday night at the convention In Chicago, their party is the one providing real leadership on border issues.
Representative Pete Aguilar The California senator, chairman of the Democratic group, said Americans do not have to choose between “a secure border and building an America for all.”
“Under Harris’ leadership, we can and will do both,” he said.
“When it comes to the border, listen to me when I say, ‘You don’t know anything, Donald Trump,’” said Veronica Escobar, a representative from the border city of El Paso, Texas. “He and his Republican imitators see the border and immigration as a political opportunity to be exploited rather than a problem to be solved.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, spoke out after a video surfaced showing Republicans oppose bipartisan border deal earlier this year. Murphy was the lead Democrat negotiating the proposal with conservative senators and said the bill would have enjoyed unanimous support had it not been for Trump.
Trump was asked about the deal, and he called it “weak” and “ineffective,” adding that a bill was not needed to President Biden take action.
“He didn’t need a law. He knows that,” he said. “You know I didn’t have a law. I said, ‘Close the border.'”
Camilo Montoya-Galvez and
contributed to this report.
