By Tim Reid and Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump pledged on Sunday to hire 10,000 more Border Patrol agents if he is re-elected president, as he intensifies his attacks on Kamala Harris on immigration.
The Republican presidential candidate said he would achieve that goal by asking Congress to fund a 10% pay increase for Border Patrol agents and a $10,000 retention and signing bonus at a rally in the border state of Arizona, an election battleground.
Flanked on stage by leaders of the Border Patrol union, who have endorsed Trump, the former president said, “This will ensure we can hire and retain the Border Patrol agents we need.”
Trump is in a neck-and-neck race with Democratic Vice President Harris in the run-up to the November 5 elections. Illegal immigration is one of voters’ top concerns, and Trump is seen by a majority of voters as the person best able to tackle it, polls show.
Trump earlier this year helped kill a bipartisan border security bill that would have funded the hiring of 1,500 additional Customs and Border Patrol agents and another 1,600 asylum agents.
There are currently approximately 20,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents.
Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and President Joe Biden have both blasted Trump for his role in pressuring Republicans in Congress to end the bipartisan border security law, accusing him of sabotaging it for political gain.
About 7 million migrants have been arrested illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border during the Biden administration, according to government data, a record number that has fueled criticism of Harris and Biden from Trump and fellow Republicans.
Harris has outlined her plans to fix “our broken immigration system,” while accusing Trump of “fanning the flames of fear and division” over the impact of immigrants on American life.
Harris has also called for tighter asylum restrictions and vowed to make it a “top priority” to prevent the deadly opioid fentanyl from entering the United States.
On Friday, Trump called for the death penalty for “any migrant” who kills a U.S. citizen.
Trump has noticeably toughened his anti-immigration rhetoric in the final weeks of the campaign. Last month, he called immigrants in the US who illegally commit violent crimes “monsters,” “stone-cold killers” and “vile animals.”
Studies generally show there is no evidence that immigrants are more likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans, and critics say Trump’s rhetoric reinforces racist tropes.
(Reporting by Tim Reid; Editing by Chris Reese)
