Former President Donald Trump said Sunday that if elected he would ask Congress to pass legislation boosting the number of border patrol agents — several months after he thwarted a bipartisan measure that included staffing increases.
The proposal would include the hiring of 10,000 new agents and a 10% raise for existing agents, as well as $10,000 for retention and signing bonuses, a Trump senior adviser said.
“I will be asking Congress immediately to approve a 10% raise,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona. "We have a tremendous shortage because they haven’t been treated right."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday.
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Trump this year opposed a bipartisan measure that was the most aggressive border security bill in decades, one that would have imposed measures aimed at cutting the number of border crossings and tightening asylum rules. The legislation, which followed months of negotiations between Senate Democrats and Republicans and the Biden administration, also would have funded the hiring of 1,500 additional Customs and Border Protection agents and an additional 1,600 asylum officers.
Senate Republicans ultimately voted to block the bill after Trump pressured congressional Republicans to block any measure that was not “perfect.” That also allowed him to continue making the border and immigration the foundation of his bid to return to the White House.
Harris campaign spokesperson Matt Corridoni said in a statement Sunday that Trump was not interested in "solving problems, but rather running on one."
"That’s why he killed the bipartisan border bill that would’ve secured the border, despite the fact that it was endorsed by the Border Patrol," Corridoni said in a statement. "There’s only one candidate focused on tackling issues for the American people, has taken on transnational gangs, and is focused on keeping our communities safe — Vice President Kamala Harris."
Asked why Trump is now proposing to hire more agents after having undermined the bipartisan measure, campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Sunday that he "opposed the bill because it was an amnesty bill that would have expedited the illegal entry of thousands of illegal immigrants into the country every week."
Vice President Kamala Harris, who has said she would sign the bipartisan bill if it were to make it to her desk as president, has been seeking to present herself as tough on migration, making a trip to the border in late September and backing tighter restrictions on getting asylum.
Trump announced his plan to beef up border security shortly after members of the National Border Patrol Council, the labor union for Border Patrol agents and staff members, joined him onstage to voice their support for him.
"On behalf of the 16,000 men and women represented by the National Border Patrol Council, we strongly support and endorse Donald J. Trump for President of the United States," Paul Perez, the union's president, said at the rally.
The same union, under a different president, endorsed the bipartisan bill that Trump helped block. It also endorsed Trump's candidacy in 2016 and 2020.
Trump has ramped up his anti-immigration rhetoric at recent rallies. Last week he called for the death penalty for any migrants who kill U.S. citizens and announced a plan he dubbed "Operation Aurora," which would invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport members of gangs.
In an NBC News poll released Sunday showing Harris and Trump deadlocked, respondents ranked immigration and border security as the second issue they considered so important that they would vote for or against a candidate solely on that basis.
