Arizona police search for ex-con who made threats on Trump's life

A manhunt was underway in Arizona on Thursday for a convicted sex offender who authorities said threatened to kill Donald Trump during the former president’s campaign stop at the southern border.

The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office said it is searching for Ronald Lee Syvrud over threats he made ahead of the former president's appearance near Sierra Vista.

The ex-con has active arrest warrants for driving under the influence in Wisconsin and for a hit-and-run incident in Graham County, Arizona, according to the sheriff’s office. Syvrud is also wanted for arrest in Graham and Cochise counties for failing to register as a sex offender. Syvrud is described as a 220-pound, 6-foot-tall, green-eyed White man who wears glasses. His last known address is in Benson, about 35 miles north of Sierra Vista.

Mr. Trump survived an assassination attempt last month after a lone gunman opened fire on the Republican Party's presidential nominee at a campaign rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania.

One crowd member was shot and killed by the would-be assassin and two other attendees were wounded.

Mr. Trump said he was visiting Sierra Vista to bash “lazy border czar" Kamala Harris, and blamed the current vice president for allowing illegal immigrants into the country who go on to victimize Americans.

Ms. Harris, the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee this fall, was tapped by President Biden to oversee the border in 2021.

“She loved the title but she didn’t want to do the work because she’s lazy and, probably more important than being lazy, wants to have an open border,” Mr. Trump said during his appearance in Cochise County.

The event also featured families whose relatives were killed by illegal immigrants.

Mr. Trump leaned into his signature issue — illegal immigration — in the hot Arizona sun hours before Ms. Harris was to formally accept the Democratic nomination on stage at the party convention in Chicago.

The former president said he didn’t expect Ms. Harris to offer many solutions and argued that any tough talk on the border would amount to a flip-flop.

“If she changes her mind, it’s only because she wants to get elected," he said.

The Biden administration took steps in June to stiffen asylum screening and otherwise stiffen enforcement at the border.