On a dirt road beneath the scrubby hills of Arizona, Donald Trump using walls and piles of steel beams to illustrate the visual contrast between his approach to securing the border and his Democratic opponent, the Vice President. Kamala Harris.
Trump brought grieving mothers, the Cochise County sheriff and the head of the Border Patrol union to echo his tough message of border security during his visit Thursday, themed “Make America Safe Again.”
“To my right is Trump’s wall. This is the wall that was built under President Trump,” said Paul Perez, president of the Border Patrol union. “On the left side, we have what we call Kamala’s wall. It’s just sitting there doing nothing, lying down.”
The Biden administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the construction of the wall.
The visit was the fourth in a series of events held in the warring states this week to try to draw attention away from Democrats’ celebration of Harris’ presidential nomination in Chicago. Speakers at the convention on Wednesday night accused Trump of using the border to rouse his base by demonizing immigrants.
OLIVIER TOURON/AFP via Getty Images
Joining the border visit Thursday are the mothers of children who died during the Biden administration in cases where the suspect was an immigrant in the country illegally. Trump has often highlighted attacks involving immigrants to raise concerns about the policies of the Biden administration, even though several studies have found that people living in the US illegally are less likely than native Americans to be arrested for crimes, drugs and property.
“I really want everyone to consider how important border control is because we are losing innocent people to terrible crimes,” said Alexis Nungaray, the mother of a 12-year-old boy. Jocelyn Nungaraywho was strangled to death in Houston in June.
At the Arizona event, a sniper stood nearby in a high position, his eyes and weapon pointed toward Mexico, a day later Trump held his first public rally started trying to kill last month. Security forces were also seen along the Mexican border, including some armed with rifles and tactical gear. Others wore uniforms that identified them as members of the Mexican state police.
“What Biden and Kamala have done to the family here with me and many others, thousands and thousands of others, not only killed, but also hurt so much, so much that they will never live a normal life again. It’s shameful, and it’s bad,” said Trump .
In a tour of the warring states this week, Trump has traveled to Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina and will hold events in Las Vegas and the Phoenix suburb of Glendale on Friday. His partner, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, said 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. This is the most heavily patrolled area by the agency, according to government statistics.
But the last monthThe number of illegal crossings along the US-Mexico border has fallen lowest rate of the yearaccording to Customs and Border Protection data obtained by CBS News, after President Biden order curtailing asylum and action by Mexico to stop migrants heading north.
Elected Democratic officials denied it Wednesday night at the convention in Chicago, the party was the real leader on the border issue.
Rep. Pete Aguilar California, the chairman of the Democratic Caucus, said Americans should not have to choose between “secure borders and building America for all.”
“At Harris, we can and will do both,” he said.
“When it comes to the border, listen to me when I say, ‘You know nothing, Donald Trump,'” said Rep. Veronica Escobar, who represents the border city of El Paso, Texas. “He and his Republican imitators see the border and immigration as a political opportunity to exploit rather than a problem to be addressed.”
Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, said after the video was shown Republican opposition to bipartisan border deal earlier this year. Murphy was the top Democrat who negotiated the proposal with conservative senators and said the bill would have had the same support if not for Trump.
Trump was asked about the deal, and he called it “weak” and “ineffective,” adding that the bill was not needed for it President Biden to take action.
“They don’t need a bill. They know,” he said. “You know I don’t have a bill. I said ‘close the border.'”
Camilo Montoya-Galvez and
contributed to this report.
