Donald Trump vowed to bolster the beleaguered Border Patrol with thousands of new agents should he be elected to rectify what he calls the Biden-Harris importation of migrants.
The agency has recently faced employee retainment and recruitment issues, in addition to low morale as many field agents have been assigned processing duty amid the historic wave of 10 million or so migrants encountered in the last 3.5 years.
The ex-president’s policy proposal came during a rally before thousands Sunday in Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley, Arizona — an hour and a half north of Phoenix up through winding passes bisecting red pillar-like mountains.
Eager border state attendants cheered enthusiastically when Trump brought up the Border Patrol and his past success working with them: ‘You know what I did, I called them up and said ‘close the border,’’ he recalled before crediting himself for low migration numbers.
Then he promised if he wins on Election Day: ‘The migrant invasion ends and the restoration of our country begins.’
To do that, Trump said he wanted to hire scores of new Border Patrol agents.
The ex-president said he is setting a goal of hiring 10,000 new Border Patrol agents should he take office.
He will also form a plan with Congress to approve raises and bonuses.
‘If I win, I will be asking Congress to immediately approve a 10 percent raise for all agents, and a $10,000 dollar retention and signing bonus,’ he proclaimed.
The ambitious hiring goal comes as the agency has seen a wave of retirements and a lack of interested employees.
Shockingly, 88 percent of Border Patrol stations indicated they suffered from understaffing, a report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General found.
Knowing the staff levels are in the red, the Biden-Harris administration announced a bonus of their own earlier this year to recruit more agents.
But reports indicate the up to $30,000 incentive has struggled to incentivize Border Patrol applicants.
Additionally, since October 2020 at least 4,000 agents have left Border Patrol, twice the number that left under Trump’s first presidency, according to the Washington Examiner.
Currently, the Border Patrol has around 19,000 agents – and all of them threw their support behind the former president at the event.
On stage Trump was also officially endorsed by the Border Patrol union, which represents over 19,000 members.
‘On behalf of the 16,000 men and women represented by the National Border Patrol Council, we strongly support and endorse President Donald J. Trump for President of the United States,’ NBPC president Paul Perez said.
‘This November, we have a choice to make. Continue the chaos, allow the criminal cartels to control the border, to allow drugs and fentanyl across our country or put an end to it once and for all.
‘If we allow Border Czar Harris to win this election, every city, every community in this great country, is going to go to hell.’
The crowd erupted in support.
Trump talked about how the agency has been twisted by the Biden-Harris administration.
‘Kamala demanded that they aid and abet the illegal migrant crossers,’ the former president said of Border Patrol’s laborious efforts processing millions of migrants for entry to the U.S. over the past years.
According to a 2023 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) report: ‘In some sectors, the U.S. Border Patrol diverted up to 60 percent of its agents from the border security mission to care for families and children, significantly reducing agents’ presence on the border.’
Further, Congressional reports indicate that many of these Border Patrol agents morale has suffered because of the processing work.
‘What Kamala and her radical left cronies have done to the state of Arizona is a crime that can never be forgiven,’ Trump added.
‘For four straight years, she has imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the third-world.’
During his past White House stint Trump had a similar goal of boosting Border Patrol staffing.
He sought then to increase the force to 25,000 personnel, however, the number of active agents never came close to that amount.