Former President Donald Trump told a rally in Arizona on Sunday that if elected, he would urge Congress to raise the salaries of Customs and Border Protection agents and hire thousands of new agents.

The policy would include the hiring of 10,000 new agents, a 10 percent raise for existing agents and $10,000 retention and signing bonuses.

Immigration policy and border security are key issues in this swing state, three weeks before Election Day. Polls have shown that when it comes to immigration, voters trust Trump more than Vice President Kamala Harris.

The former president said of the proposal at the campaign rally at the Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley: “This will ensure that we can hire and keep the Border Patrol agents that we need to keep.” really great.”

Trump announced the policy after members of the Border Patrol union joined him on stage at his campaign rally in the critical state of Arizona.

“On behalf of the 16,000 men and women represented by the National Border Patrol Council, we strongly support and support Donald J. Trump for President of the United States,” said Paul Perez, president of the union.

Earlier this year, the union endorsed a bipartisan border security bill that the former president had opposed.

Trump pressured Republican lawmakers to reject the bill, which he called “horrible.” The legislation would have funded the hiring of 1,500 additional Customs and Border Protection agents and 1,600 additional asylum agents to reduce the backlog.

Senate Republicans voted to block the bill following Trump’s comments, allowing him to keep border and immigration issues at the center of his campaign for his return to the White House.

Harris pledged to revive the border bill that Trump opposed, and Democrats criticized the former president’s announcement of policy plans to secure the U.S. border. Mexico.

Matt Corridoni, Harris campaign spokesman, said in a statement: “Trump told us Mexico would pay for his failed border wall.

“Trump doesn’t care about solving problems; he only wants to run on one. That’s why he rejected the bipartisan border bill that would have secured the border, despite the fact that it was approved by Border Patrol.

“There is only one candidate who is focused on solving the problems of the American people, who has taken on transnational gangs, and who is focused on keeping our communities safe: Vice President Kamala Harris.”