On a dirt road below the shrub-dotted hills of Arizona, Donald Trump used a stretch of wall and a pile of steel beams to draw a visual contrast between his approach to securing the border and that of his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump brought along grieving mothers, the sheriff of Cochise County and the head of the Border Patrol union to echo his tough-on-border security message at Thursday’s visit, which was themed “Make America Safe Again.”
“To my right is what we call Trump wall. This was wall that was built under President Trump,” said Paul Perez, the president of the Border Patrol union. “To my left, we have what we call Kamala wall. It’s just sitting there doing nothing, lying down.”
The visit was the fourth in a series of events held in battleground states this week.
Joining Thursday’s border visit were the mothers of children who were killed during the Biden administration in cases where the suspects are immigrants in the country illegally. Trump frequently highlights attacks involving immigrants to fuel concerns about the Biden administration policies, though some studies have found that people living in the U.S. illegally are less likely than native-born Americans to have been arrested for violent, drug and property crimes.
“I just really, really, really want everybody to please take into consideration how important border control is because we’re losing very innocent people to heinous crimes,” said Alexis Nungaray, the mother of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was strangled to death in Houston in June.
At the Arizona event, snipers stood nearby at an elevated position, their eyes and weapons pointed toward Mexico, a day after Trump held his first outdoor rally since an assassination attempt last month. Security forces were also visible on the Mexican side of the border, including several men 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 also really badly hurt, badly hurt to a point where they’ll never lead a normal life again. It’s shameful, and it’s evil,” Trump said.
Elected Democratic officials argued Wednesday night at the convention that their party is the one offering real leadership on border issues.
Trump has spent the week campaigning across the battleground states. He traveled to Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina and will hold events in Las Vegas and the Phoenix suburb of Glendale on Friday. His running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, spoke at the same location near the border a few weeks ago.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
