Arizona, Border Loom Large at RNC

Arizona played a central role at the Republican convention this week, with ranchers and others living near high-volume illegal immigrant crossings highlighting and personalizing the negative impact caused by the Biden administration’s dereliction of duty. Despite being central to President Trump’s campaign to win the 2024 election, stories like those shared by Arizonans at the convention make his argument that much more urgent.

Small-business owner and Yuma Union High School District board member David Lara spoke first on Wednesday night. Living in the border city of San Luis, AZ, Lara painted a bleak picture of how the sheer number of illegal immigrants is hurting daily life in his border town.

“Small towns like mine bear the brunt of the chaos. Imagine crowds rushing the port, overwhelming Border Patrol when they know that they don’t have enough agents to detain everyone. Imagine strangers terrorizing your homes, your neighbors, your yards and local schools who are fearful to let children walk home,” he lamented.

He recounted how the city’s fire department must use off-road vehicles to transport injured townsfolk to the hospital because federal officials commandeered the city’s ambulances for “asylum seekers.” He also shared a fearful assessment of how the drug cartels capitalize on small-town vulnerabilities.

“In San Luis, Mexican drug cartels use school children as mules, let that sink in,” he said. Lara lays the blame squarely on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Next up were Jim and Sue Chilton, ranchers living in the sparsely populated, unincorporated community of Arivaca, Arizona. Their property abuts just under six miles of the Mexico-USA border. Jim stated that he and his wife are “living through an invasion.”

“Since Joe Biden took office, our hidden cameras have recorded over 3,500 drug packers and others dressed in camouflage marching north through our ranch,” Mr. Chilton announced. “These are not asylum seekers.”

He added, “In April alone, over 5,000 additional, unvetted aliens entered our ranch claiming economic asylum. We know firsthand that Biden’s open border is our nation’s greatest national security threat.”

Sue told the rapt audience that border crossers have broken into their home twice and that she lives in constant fear, adding, “Every time Jim leaves the ranch house, I have to worry that he won’t come back alive.”

Stopping illegal immigration continues to be a central theme of President Trump’s re-election strategy. The Arizonans speaking at the RNC humanized the plight that American citizens face in their daily lives because of the invasion of illegal immigrants. However, they did not just represent Arizonans. Similar issues face Texas and California, with the problem exacerbated by notably different responses by the respective states. While Texas stands at the forefront of fighting illegal border crossings, with Arizona less so, California does the opposite under uber-liberal Gavin Newsom’s governance, almost welcoming the illegal crossings.