Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is taking his commonsense call to end the border crisis to a group on the front lines: America’s sheriffs.
The National Sheriffs’ Association told Secrets that the populist will address the group’s annual convention in Oklahoma City next week. He will sit for a talk for 30 minutes on Tuesday and address border, crime, and mental health issues.
The sheriffs have played a critical role on the border, working arm-in-arm with the U.S. Border Patrol to fight illegal immigration. In the past, they have supported former President Donald Trump and worked with his administration to tighten control of the border.
It is unclear if Trump also plans to speak at the conference.
I made a 20-minute documentary about the border after I visited last June. Please watch it if you dare to believe that compassion and security can coexist. The tragic irony of our current open border policy is that it benefits nobody — not even the migrants themselves. #Kennedy24 pic.twitter.com/LLkBUdqKj2
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) January 28, 2024
Much more than President Joe Biden or his border coordinator and Vice President Kamala Harris, Kennedy has made visits over the past two years to the southern border with Mexico and met with agents, sheriffs, and the media.
“He’s spent more time at the border than our border czar,” Yuma County, Arizona, Sheriff Leon Wilmot said recently.
Kennedy recently said of the border crisis, “This is not a good thing for our country, it’s not a good thing for these people, and it is unsustainable.”
He has called for the immediate closure of the border to illegal crossings and said that Biden could do it with an executive order, as Trump did in 2017. Biden did recently move to slow illegal crossings, though there are still elevated levels of those passing through illegally.
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As president, Biden has snubbed the sheriffs and law enforcement appears to back Trump. However, there are some who also support Kennedy’s focus on the border and crime.
The Oklahoma City convention is one of two major conventions the National Sheriffs’ Association hosts every year and includes their annual trade show.
Kennedy remains a distant third in the presidential race and has been working to get on state presidential election ballots.