Donald Trump returned to the US-Mexico border for a visit on Sunday as he promotes a tough immigration agenda that would be far more expansive than the policies he pursued during his first term as president.

Before delivering remarks in Edinburg, Texas, Trump served meals to soldiers, troopers and others from the Texas National Guard who will be stationed at the border over Thanksgiving. He was joined by the Republican government. Greg Abbott, a longtime ally and fellow border hawk who on Sunday endorsed the frontrunner for the 2024 nomination.

Trump thanked Abbott before a crowd of about 150 people in an Edinburgh airport hangar and said that by defeating Democratic President Biden next year, I will make your job much easier.

“In Texas you can focus on other things,” Trump said, speaking in the city that is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the Hidalgo border crossing with Mexico.

Trump has put forward immigration proposals that would mark a dramatic escalation of the approach he took during his term and sparked alarms from civil rights activists and numerous lawsuits.

On my first day back in the White House, I will end every open borders policy of the Biden administration. I will stop the invasion at our southern border and begin the largest domestic deportation operation in American history, he said in Iowa.

on

Saturday.

Democrats have portrayed Trump’s plans as extreme.

Donald Trump is going after immigrants, our rights

,

our security and our democracy

,

Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s re-election campaign manager, said during a conference call with reporters. “And that’s what’s actually on the ballot

last year

.”

Trump also wants:

to revive and expand its controversial travel ban, which initially targeted seven Muslim-majority countries. Trump’s initial executive order was fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which confirmed that what Trump complained was a watered-down version that also included travelers from North Korea and some Venezuelan officials.

begin a new “ideological screening for all immigrants, aimed at preventing Christian-hating communists and Marxists” and dangerous lunatics, haters, bigots and maniacs from entering the United States. Those who come to our country and join us must love our country,” he said. said.

exclude those who support the militant group Hamas. If you empathize with radical Islamic terrorists and extremists, you will be disqualified,” Trump said. “If you want to abolish the state of Israel, you are disqualified. If you support Hamas or any ideology related to it, or any of the other really sick thoughts that go through people’s minds, very dangerous thoughts, then you are disqualified.

deporting immigrants living in the country who harbor jihadist sympathies, and sending immigration agents to pro-jihadist demonstrations to identify offenders. He would target foreigners on college campuses and revoke the student visas of those who express anti-American or anti-Semitic views.

invoke the Alien Enemies Act

Unpleasant

remove all known or suspected gang members and drug dealers from the United States. That law was used to justify internment camps in World War II and allows the president to unilaterally detain and deport people who are not U.S. citizens.

end the constitutional birthright right by signing an executive order on his first day in office that would codify a legally untested reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment. Under his order, only children with at least one U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident parent would be eligible for a passport, Social Security number and other benefits.

end all work permits and cut off funding for shelter and transportation for people in the country illegally.

building more of the wall along the border, cracking down on legal asylum seekers and reimplementing measures like Title 42, which allowed Trump to turn away immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

pressure Congress to pass a law so that anyone caught trafficking women or children would face the death penalty.

shift federal law enforcement agents, including FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration personnel, to immigration enforcement, and reposition at the southern border thousands of troops currently stationed abroad. Before we defend the borders of foreign countries, we must secure the borders of our country,” he said

said

.

Trump has made frequent trips to the border as a candidate and president. During his 2016 campaign, he traveled to Laredo, Texas, in July 2015 for a visit that highlighted how his views on immigration helped him win media attention and support from the Republican base.

The border has also become a centerpiece of Abbott’s agenda and the subject of an escalating battle with the Biden administration over immigration. The three-term governor has approved billions of dollars to build new border walls, authorized razor wire on the banks of the Rio Grande and bused thousands of migrants to Democratic-run cities across the United States.

Abbott is expected to soon sign one of Texas’ most aggressive measures yet: a law that would allow police officers to arrest migrants suspected of entering the country illegally and allow judges to effectively deport them . The measure is a dramatic challenge to the U.S. government’s authority on immigration. That’s already true

already

drawn reprimand from Mexico.

Yet the far right of the Texas Republican Party has not always embraced Abbott. Trump posted on his social media platform earlier this year that the Governor was MISSING IN ACTION! after Republicans voted to elect Texas Att

orne

j. Gen.

eral

Ken Paxton, a Trump ally. Abbott was also booed at a Trump rally in 2022.

But Abbott’s navigation within the Republican Party has won him broad support in Texas, where he has outperformed stronger Republicans and helped the Republican Party make crucial progress on

Spanish Latino

voters.

Weber and Price reported from Texas, and Colvin from New York. Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Wilmington, Del., contributed to this report.