PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Sunday proposed hiring 10,000 more Border Patrol agents and giving them a $10,000 retention and signing bonus, after derailing a plan bipartisan bill earlier this year that included funding for more border personnel.

Trump made his promise at a rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona, about 260 miles north of the state’s border with Mexico. He accepted the support of the agents’ union, the National Border Patrol Council, which is a longtime Trump supporter who supported him in his two previous campaigns.

Trump has made illegal immigration the focal point 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 United States illegally as invaders and criminals, and he has pledged to stage the largest deportation operation in American history if he is elected president again.

He challenged the union earlier this year when he convinced Republicans to reject a bipartisan immigration bill that contained additional border resources. According to the White House, the bill would have funded 1,500 people within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol.

Trump said at the time that he did not want to give Democrats a political victory on this key issue. At the rally, Trump claimed the legislation was “a horrible bill.”

Trump and his allies regularly call Harris the “border czar,” even though she never had that title. President Joe Biden asked Harris early in his administration to study the “root causes” of migration from Central America.

“If we allow Border Czar Harris to win this election, every city, every community in this great country will go to hell,” union President Paul Perez said as he stood next to Trump on stage with a group of agents.

Matt Corridoni, a Harris campaign spokesman, highlighted Trump’s decision against the border bill and his promise that Mexico would pay for its iconic border wall, which was ultimately funded by the U.S. government.

“Trump doesn’t care about solving problems, he only wants to show up on one,” Corridoni said in a statement.

Trump has pledged to complete a border wall if he returns to the White House. He regularly touts his relatively low number of border crossings, with much higher numbers during the first three years of Biden’s term, although currently crossings have returned to levels equal to or lower than those seen during the major part of Trump’s term.

Trump’s term was also marked by a fight against illegal crossings before the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of international borders. Under his administration, Border Patrol agents separated immigrant children from their parents, one of several law enforcement programs implemented by the Trump administration to combat illegal immigration.

On Sunday, Trump said Border Patrol agents deserved higher salaries and bonuses and lamented how he said Biden and Harris had neglected the border.