Former President Donald Trump has vowed that, if re-elected, he would ask Congress to pass a law to increase the number of border patrol agents and give the current agents a 10% raise.
During a campaign rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona, Trump said, "I will be asking Congress immediately to approve a 10% raise. We have a tremendous shortage because they haven't been treated right," NBC News reported.
The former president added the proposal would comprise adding 10,000 new agents and $10,000 for retention and signing bonuses, a senior adviser to Trump said.
Trump's comments Sunday came months after he blocked a bipartisan plan that included hiring more agents. Earlier this year, Trump had opposed a bipartisan border security bill that was one of the toughest in decades, as it aimed to reduce border crossings and make asylum rules stricter.
After months of talks between Senate Democrats, Republicans and the Biden administration, the bill also included funding to hire 1,500 more border agents and 1,600 asylum officers. However, Senate Republicans blocked the bill after Trump pressured them to stop any plan that wasn't "perfect."
This had allowed the former president to keep making immigration and border issues a main focus of his campaign to return to the White House.
Matt Corridoni, the spokesperson for Kamala Harris's campaign, claimed Trump was more focused on using the border issue for his campaign than actually solving problems. He pointed out that Trump blocked a bipartisan border bill that would have strengthened border security, even though it had the support of the Border Patrol.
The Harris campaign stressed the vice president was the only candidate working on real issues for the American people, addressing transnational gangs and prioritizing community safety.
When asked why Trump was now proposing to hire more border agents after blocking the earlier bill, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt explained that he opposed the bill because it included amnesty provisions, which, in Trump's view, would have increased the number of illegal immigrants entering the country each week.
Trump announced his plan to strengthen border security soon after members of the National Border Patrol Council, the union for Border Patrol agents and staff, stood with him onstage to show their support.
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