An Arizona businessman spoke in support of Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, praising the former president's actions to secure the border with Mexico.
David Lara is a Yuma-based business owner and a member of the Yuma Union High School District 70 school board. He has been selected as one of 24 “ordinary Americans” who will speak over the course of a week at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Wednesday's theme was “Make America Strong Again,” and it focused on topics such as international relations and illegal immigration.
Lara, who lives in a border town in Arizona, spoke about the impact illegal immigration has on children, families and communities. Here's what he said Wednesday:
“Los Latinos Support Trump”
In a speech at the Republican National Convention, Lara described the dire situation in his beloved hometown of San Luis.
The city, with a population of fewer than 50,000, is just 70 miles from the Mexican border in Yuma County. Arizona Department of Commerceand is on the front lines of the fight against illegal immigration.
“Small towns like mine are bearing the brunt of the chaos,” Lara said.
Lara said San Luis residents have seen Mexican drug cartels use elementary school students as drug mules, fire stations and hospitals overwhelmed with migrant care, and a constant influx of deadly drugs into their community, leading to increased crime and violence.
“San Luis wasn't always like this, and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don't care,” Lara said. “In fact, they seem happy about it. They've done nothing to stop it, and instead they've made it worse.”
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Lara said Biden has not visited San Luis during his presidency, despite growing community demand for policy action and administration support.
Trump has been vocal about prioritizing increased security for migrants, and with plans to visit small towns like San Luis on his way to the border, Lara said he plans to vote for Trump in November's election.
“We must re-elect Trump to put the people first and make America strong again,” Lara said.
Biden campaign: 'We're fixing a broken immigration system'
Kevin Munoz, a spokesman for the Biden-Harris campaign, told The Arizona Republic that the Biden administration is taking steps to fix a “broken immigration system” and address the issues “that concern our communities most.”
In June, President Biden issued an executive order suspending asylum processing between border crossings in response to a historic increase in migrants arriving at the border. As a result, migrant encounters at the southern border fell by 40% after the order went into effect.
The policy marks a shift to the right in Biden's approach to immigration since he pledged during the 2020 election to pursue more humane policies than his predecessor, drawing criticism from some immigration experts, more progressive Democrats and Latino lawmakers who accuse him of backtracking on a pledge made four years ago.
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Three weeks later, the administration announced new rules to make it easier for about 500,000 undocumented immigrants who are already eligible for green cards to apply without having to leave the country while their applications are processed.
Muñoz also blames Trump and his allies for not allowing passage of a comprehensive bipartisan bill that would have allowed the federal government to halt asylum proceedings during the border surge. The bill would have also limited the release of migrants into the interior and reduced the time it takes to adjudicate asylum claims.
President Trump criticized the bill on social media in an attempt to thwart Biden's legislative victories in an election year, which led to Republican senators who initially supported the bill voting against it.
“All Americans should know that President Trump has proudly killed the strongest bipartisan border bill in a generation by siding with fentanyl traffickers over the Border Patrol and our national security,” Munoz said.
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