Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is endorsing GOP frontrunner Donald Trump for president.
In a written statement distributed by Donald Trump’s campaign, Kobach gave his stamp of approval to Trump and the candidate’s plan to make Mexico pay for a border wall.
“For me, the most important issue in the Republican presidential contest is immigration and its effect on our national security,” Kobach said. He continued:
On that issue Mr. Trump stands head and shoulders above the other candidates. He has made it clear that ramping up the enforcement of our immigration laws will be his top priority. And he has forcefully rejected the notion of giving amnesty to illegal aliens living in the United States.
Kobach has been an influential voice in the creation of more stringent immigration laws across the country and has served as counsel for the ICE agents suing the Obama administration over Obama’s 2012 executive amnesty. He was elected as Kansas’s secretary of state in 2010. Kobach added:
Now, more than ever, America needs Mr. Trump’s aggressive approach to the problem of illegal immigration. Our porous border represents a huge national security threat, and our refugee system has been abused by terrorists in the past and is likely to be abused by ISIS terrorists today. Moreover, there are too many Americans who are out of work because of illegal immigration or who are working in jobs where the wages are depressed because of illegal immigration.
In offering his approval for the building of a border wall, Kobach argued that the PATRIOT Act contains a provision that would allow the U.S. to get Mexico to pay for the wall.
“Finally, on the subject of building the wall on our southern border, Mr. Trump is correct when he says that the United States has the ability to compel Mexico to pay for it,” he said. “
As I have discussed with Mr. Trump, the PATRIOT Act contains a provision that the United States can and should use as leverage with the Government of Mexico,” he continued. “We have the ability to shut down the flow of remittances to Mexico from illegal aliens working in the United States. Mexico will have to make a choice: either make a single payment of $5-10 billion to the United States to pay for the wall, or lose most of the $23 billion in remittances that Mexico receives every year from its nationals working in the United States.”