EDINBURG, Texas (AP) \u2014\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0picked up the Texas governor\u2019s endorsement Sunday during a visit to a U.S.-Mexico border town and promised that\u00a0his hard-line immigration policies\u00a0in a second presidential term would make Greg Abbott\u2019s \u201cjob much easier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll be able to focus on other things in Texas,\u201d Trump told Abbott as they each appeared before a crowd of about 150 at an airport hangar in Edinburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abbott, a longtime ally and fellow border hawk, said he was proud to endorse the former president, who is the Republican Party\u2019s front-runner for the 2024 nomination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need a president who\u2019s going to secure the border,\u201d Abbott said, speaking in a town that is about 30 miles from the Hidalgo Port of Entry crossing with Mexico. \u201cWe need Donald J. Trump back as our president of the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier, Trump served meals to Texas National Guard soldiers, troopers and others who will be stationed at the border over Thanksgiving. Trump and Abbott handed out tacos, and the former president shook hands and posed for pictures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat you do is incredible, and you want it to be done right,\u201d Trump told them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abbott said about the Guard members and Texas troopers who are stationed at the border: \u201cThey should not be here at this time. They should be at home.\u201d He said that \u201dthe only reason why they are here is because we have a president of the United States of America who is not securing our border.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump has been laying out immigration proposals that would mark a dramatic escalation of the approach he used in office and that drew alarms from civil rights activists and numerous court challenges. Though Trump has peppered campaign speeches with his immigration plans, he only made brief remarks in border country on Sunday. He spoke for only about 10 minutes against a backdrop of state police choppers, a plane and an armed patrol boat \u2014 all used by Texas at the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump did not get into the policies he would pursue if elected. He did complain about inflation, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and news media coverage. He said most technology outside of wheels and walls eventually becomes obsolete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe just need the walls. And it worked,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His plan calls for building more of the wall along the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also wants to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 revive and expand his controversial travel ban, which initially targeted seven Muslim-majority countries. Trump\u2019s initial executive order was fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld what Trump complained was a \u201cwatered down\u201d version that included travelers from North Korea and some Venezuelan officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 begin new \u201cideological screening\u201d for all immigrants, aiming to bar \u201cChristian-hating communists and Marxists\u201d and \u201cdangerous lunatics, haters, bigots and maniacs\u201d from entering the United States. \u201cThose who come to and join our country must love our country,\u201d he has said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 bar those who support Hamas. \u201cIf you empathize with radical Islamic terrorists and extremists, you\u2019re disqualified,\u201d Trump says. \u201cIf you want to abolish the state of Israel, you\u2019re disqualified. If you support Hamas or any ideology that\u2019s having to do with that or any of the other really sick thoughts that go through people\u2019s minds \u2014 very dangerous thoughts \u2014 you\u2019re disqualified.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 deport immigrants living in the country who harbor \u201cjihadist sympathies\u201d and send immigration agents to \u201cpro-jihadist demonstrations\u201d to identify violators. He would target foreign nationals on college campuses and revoke the student visas of those who express anti-American or antisemitic views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 invoke the Alien Enemies Act to to remove from the United States all known or suspected gang members and drug dealers. That law was used to justify internment camps in World War II. It allows the president to unilaterally detain and deport people who are not U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 end the constitutional right to birthright citizenship by signing an executive order his first day in office that would codify a legally untested reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment. Under his order, only children with at least one U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident parent would be eligible for a passport, Social Security number and other benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 terminate all work permits and cut off funding for shelter and transportation for people who are in the country illegally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 crack down on legal asylum-seekers and reimplement measures such as\u00a0Title 42, which allowed Trump to turn away immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 press Congress to pass a law so anyone caught trafficking women or children would receive the death penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 shift federal law enforcement agents, including FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration personnel, to immigration enforcement, and reposition at the southern border thousands of troops currently stationed overseas. \u201cBefore we defend the borders of foreign countries we must secure the border of our country,\u201d he said said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump has made frequent trips to the border as a candidate and president. During his 2016 campaign, he traveled to\u00a0Laredo, Texas in July 2015\u00a0for a visit that highlighted how his views on immigration helped him win media attention and support from the GOP base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The border has also become a centerpiece of Abbott\u2019s agenda and the subject of an escalating fight with the Biden administration over immigration. The three-term governor has approved billions of dollars in new border wall construction,\u00a0authorized razor wire\u00a0on the banks of the Rio Grande and\u00a0bused thousands of migrants to Democrat-led cities\u00a0across the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abbott is expected to soon sign what would be one of Texas\u2019 most aggressive measures to date: a law that allows police officers to\u00a0arrest migrants suspected of entering the country illegally\u00a0and empowers judges to effectively deport them. The measure is a dramatic challenge to the U.S. government\u2019s authority over immigration. It already has already drawn rebuke from Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, the Texas GOP\u2019s hard right has not always embraced Abbott. Trump posted on his social media platform earlier this year that the governor\u00a0was \u201cMISSING IN ACTION!\u201d\u00a0after Republicans voted to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Trump ally. Abbott was also booed at a 2022 Trump rally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Abbott\u2019s navigation within the GOP has built him broad support in Texas, where he has outperformed more strident Republicans down-ballot and helped the GOP make crucial inroads with Hispanic voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats tried to use the trip to portray Trump\u2019s plans as extreme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDonald Trump is going after immigrants, our rights our safety and our democracy. And that is what really is on the ballot last year,\u201d Biden reelection campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said on a conference call with reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pollings show\u00a0many voters aren\u2019t satisfied\u00a0with the Biden administration\u2019s handling of the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Marquette Law School poll of registered voters\u00a0conducted in late September\u00a0gave Trump a 24-point advantage over Biden on handling immigration and border security issues \u2014 52% to 28%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
___ Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Wilmington, Delaware, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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