Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach endorsed Donald Trump Monday.
Kobach, known for his role in drafting Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration legislation in 2010, released a statement saying Trump “stands head and shoulders” above other candidates on the immigration issue and how it affects national security.
Kobach’s endorsement comes less than week before Kansas’ presidential caucuses on Saturday.
“Now, more than ever, America needs Mr. Trump’s aggressive approach to the problem of illegal immigration,” Kobach said.
“Our porous borders constitute 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 in which the wages are depressed because of illegal immigration.”
Kobach referenced Trump’s desire to build a wall on the southern border that the Republican front-runner says Mexico will be forced to pay for. Kobach says Trump will have the leverage to do this as president by using a provision in the PATRIOT Act. The Kansas official argues that the measure allows the U.S. to shut down remittances to Mexico from illegal immigrants working in the U.S.
“Mexico will then have to make a choice: Either make a single payment of $5 billion to $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 illegally in the United States,” said Kobach.
In addition to his work drafting laws designed to crack down on illegal immigration, Kobach represented Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who sued the Obama administration. From 2001 to 2003 he served in the Bush administration as Attorney General John Ashcroft’s chief adviser on immigration law and border security.