PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Sunday proposed hiring 10,000 additional Border Patrol agents and giving them a $10,000 retention and signing bonus, after he derailed a bipartisan bill earlier this year that included funding for more border personnel.
Trump made his pledge during a rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona, roughly 260 miles north of the state’s border with Mexico. He accepted an endorsement from the agents’ union, the National Border Patrol Council, which is a longtime Trump backer that endorsed him during his prior two campaigns.
Trump has made illegal immigration the focus of his campaign and blamed Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, for a record spike in unauthorized crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border. He frequently denounces people entering the U.S. illegally as invaders and criminals, and he has vowed to stage the largest deportation operation in American history if he…