GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump vowed to add 10,000 border agents if re-elected president and stepped up his attacks on Democratic candidate Kamala Harris on immigration, Reuters reported.
Trump said he would meet the goal by asking the US Congress to fund a 10 percent pay raise for Border Patrol agents and a $10,000 retention and signing bonus during a rally in the disputed state of Arizona, on the border with Mexico.
Flanked by Border Patrol union leaders who have thrown their support behind Trump, the former president said, "This will ensure that we can hire and retain the Border Patrol agents we need.
Trump remains in a tight race with Vice President Harris ahead of the upcoming November 5 presidential vote. Illegal immigration is a major concern of voters, and the majority of them consider Trump the person who can best deal with it, according to polls.
There are currently about 20,000 Border Patrol agents in the United States.
According to government data, about 7 million migrants have been arrested during Biden's administration illegally crossing the US-Mexico border - a record high number that has fueled criticism of Harris and Biden by Trump and other Republicans, Reuters notes. .
Harris laid out his plans to fix a "broken immigration system," while accusing Trump of "fanning the flames of fear and division." about the impact of immigrants on the American way of life. Harris also called for tighter restrictions on asylum and promised to make it a "top priority" stopping the trafficking of the deadly opioid fentanyl in the United States.
On Friday, Trump called for the death penalty for "any immigrant" who kills an American citizen. In recent weeks, the Trump campaign has significantly stepped up its anti-immigration rhetoric. Last month, he called immigrants who are in the US illegally and commit serious crimes "monsters" and "cold-blooded killers".
However, studies generally show there is no evidence that immigrants commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans, and critics say Trump's rhetoric reinforces racist stereotypes, Reuters notes.