Over the weekend, former President Donald Trump traveled to a US-Mexico border town where he picked up the endorsement of an influential governor.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has led the charge against Democrats on immigration, said he was proud to endorse the former president for 2024.
“We need a president who’s going to secure the border,” Abbott said, speaking from a small town about 30 miles from the Hidalgo Port of Entry crossing with Mexico. “We need Donald J. Trump back as our president of the United States of America.”
Trump, speaking to the same crowd of about 150 people in the small town of Edinburg, pledged his hardline immigration policies would make Abbott’s job “much easier”.
Earlier in the day, Trump and Abbott served tacos to the Texas National Guard soldiers and other troopers who will be stationed at the border over Thanksgiving.
“They should not be here at this time. They should be at home,” Abbott said, stating ”the only reason why they are here is because we have a president of the United States of America who is not securing our border.”
Trump Lays Out Agenda
During the trip, Trump also said he wanted to resume building the wall along the border and fleshed out a few other policy points.
He said he wanted to being “ideological screening” for all immigrants to bar ”Christian-hating communists and Marxists” and “dangerous lunatics, haters, bigots and maniacs” from entering the country.
“Those who come to and join our country must love our country,” he has previously said.
He also wants to screen out immigrants who support or sympathize with Hamas.
One of his more controversial immigration plans is to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to remove all known or suspected gang members and drug dealers.
The AEA was infamously used to justify internment camps during World War II. It gives the president the power to unilaterally detain and deport those who are not US citizens.
Trump has made frequent trips to the border in the past as both a candidate and as president.
