Texas Gov. Abbott endorses Trump at campaign stop on southern border

EDINBURG, Texas (AP) — Donald Trump returned to the U.S.-Mexico border for a visit Sunday and was endorsed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas as the former president campaigns on a hard-line immigration agenda that would be far more expansive than the policies he pursued during his first term in the White House.

“We need a president who’s going to secure the border,” Abbott, a longtime ally and fellow border hawk, told a crowd of about 150 at an airport hangar in Edinburg. “We need Donald J. Trump back as our president of the United States of America.”

Trump, the party’s front-runner for the 2024 nomination, took the stage afterward and thanked Abbott, saying that in defeating Democratic President Joe Biden next year, “I’m going to make your job much easier.”