Border politics front and center on 2024 campaign trail

WASHINGTON (TNND) — The border issue is once again getting top billing on the 2024 campaign trial, especially in the battleground state of Arizona.

Former President Donald Trump has pitched a plan to hire 10,000 more border agents and give raises to those already serving, though he hasn't said where the funds to cover the costs will come from.

In a Prescott Valley, Arizona speech over the weekend, Trump said, “After I win, I will be asking Congress immediately to approve a 10% raise. They haven't had one in a long time for all agents and a $10,000 each retention and signing bonus.”

VOTE | Do you agree with Donald Trump's goal to hire 10,000 new Border Patrol agents?

The National Border Patrol Council is lending its support right back.

“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,"National Border Patrol Council President Paul Perez announced.

Trump has also been providing more specifics on his plan to go after migrant criminals using a 1798 law called the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime authority that allows for “subjects of a hostile nation” to be "apprehended, restrained, secured and removed.”

Trump also wants to implement an automatic 10-year jail sentence for those who return to the country after being removed and will recommend the death penalty for any migrant who kills an American citizen or law enforcement officer.

The Trump campaign is betting the tough talk will pay off with polls continuously showing his border policies far more popular than those of the Biden-Harris administration.

It's one reason Vice President Kamala Harris has appeared to have moved to the center on immigration policy.

In a town hall withNoticias Univision on Thursday she said, “I have taken on transnational criminal organizations that traffic guns drugs and human beings and I have prosecuted them.”

She has also pledged her support for the Senate's Bipartisan border bill which never came up for a vote. Her campaign is slamming Trump for suggesting he’d hire new border agents, despite convincing Republicans to tank a legislative plan that did just that.

"Trump blocked the only thing we had for his own political gain," said Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz. "That's the difference between somebody who’s actually prosecuted the criminals and dedicated her life to keeping people safe and a salesman who’s selling you snake oil for his own good. That’s the difference."

The differences are now on full display in the final weeks of the campaign.