A national union representing border patrol agents endorsed Donald Trump for president on Wednesday, making it the first presidential endorsement in the union’s history.
The National Border Patrol Council is the same union whose local chapter in Laredo, Texas pulled out of a Trump event last year after consulting with the national organization.
The union’s Laredo chapter, Local 2455, was set to give Trump a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border in July. But the local chapter ended up pulling out of the event “after careful consideration of all the factors involved and communicating with members of the National Border Patrol Council at the national level.” The local union chapter also said at the time that an endorsement was “never discussed for any presidential candidate.”
Trump still showed up for the event, however; the photo above is from his July 23 presser. The real estate mogul put out a statement at the time alleging the local union shop was being “silenced” by its “superiors in Washington.”
The national organization has changed its tune, apparently. In Wednesday’s release, the NBPC wrote it “will not sit on the sidelines” while “the lives and security of the American are stake.” The union said Trump was “bold and outspoken.”
“You can judge a man by his opponents: all the people responsible for the problems plaguing America today are opposing Mr. Trump,” the release read. “It is those without political power – the workers, the law enforcement officers, the everyday families and community members – who are supporting Mr. Trump.”
The release said an “open border” is the biggest economic threat today.
“As an organization we expect our elected officials to aggressively pursue the interests of the country,” the release read. “America has already tried a young, articulate freshman senator who never created a job as an attorney and under whose watch criminal cartels have been given the freest border reign ever known.”
Here’s the full endorsement.
