Who is David Lara? Arizona businessman speaks about border at RNC. Here's what he said

An Arizona businessman spoke in favor of Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, extolling the former president's action to secure the border with Mexico.

David Lara is a Yuma-based business owner and a member of the Yuma Union High School District #70 school board. He was selected as one of the 24 "everyday Americans" to speak throughout the week at the 2024 Republican National Convention.

Wednesday's theme was "Make America Strong Once Again" and focused on topics like international relations and illegal immigration.

As an Arizona border town resident, Lara shared the impact illegal immigration has on children, families and communities. Here's what he said on Wednesday.

'Los Latinos estamos con Trump'

In his address to the Republican National Convention, Lara illustrated the dire state of his beloved hometown of San Luis.

The city of less than 50,000 residents sits just 70 miles from the Mexican border in Yuma County, according to the Arizona Commerce Authority, and is at the front lines of the illegal immigration battle.

"Small towns like mine bear the brunt of the chaos," Lara said.

Lara said the people of San Luis are witnessing Mexican cartels using schoolchildren as drug mules, the Fire Department and hospitals overwhelmed by migrant care and the steady flow of fatal drugs into the community causing an increase of crime and violence.

"San Luis wasn't always this way. And Joe Biden, Kamala Harris do not care," Lara said. "In fact, they seem satisfied. They have done nothing to stop it and everything to make it worse."

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Biden has not visited San Luis during his presidency despite the community's growing desire for policy action and executive assistance, Lara said.

Because Trump had been vocal about his prioritization of increased immigration security and would visit small towns like San Luis on his way to the border, Lara said he will vote for him in November.

"We must reelect Trump to put our citizens first and make America strong again," Lara said.

Biden campaign: We're fixing 'our broken immigration system'

Kevin Munoz, a spokesperson with the Biden-Harris campaign, told The Arizona Republic that the Biden administration is taking action to fix "our broken immigration system" and address the issues "our communities care most about."

In June, Biden issued an executive order triggering a shutdown in asylum processing between border crossings in response to historic increases in arrivals at the border. As a result, migrant encounters at the southern border dropped by 40% in the time after the order was implemented.

The policy demonstrates a rightward shift in Biden's approach to immigration since his 2020 campaign pledge to pursue more humane policies than his predecessor, drawing criticism from some immigration experts, from more progressive Democrats and from Latino lawmakers who have accused him of turning his back on his promises from four years ago.

Mixed response:Why Biden's action on border security is getting panned on the right and left in Arizona

The administration followed up three weeks later with new rules that make it easier for some 500,000 undocumented migrants who already qualify to obtain permanent residency status to apply without leaving the country while their application is processed.

Moreover, according to Munoz, Trump and supporters were to blame for not allowing the passage of a sweeping bipartisan bill that would have let the federal government shut down asylum processing during high levels of migration at the border. It would have also limited the release of migrants into the interior and reduced the length of time it takes to adjudicate asylum claims.

Trump criticized the measure on social media in an effort to deny Biden a legislative victory during an election year. As a result, Republic senators who had initially supported the bill ended up voting against it.

"Every American should know that Trump proudly killed the strongest bipartisan border bill in a generation ― siding with fentanyl traffickers over the Border Patrol and our security," Munoz said.

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