Kris Kobach Endorses Trump Citing Candidate's Stance On Immigration

Talking Points Memo

By Caitlin Macneal

February 29, 2016

Kris Kobach Endorses Trump Citing Candidate's Stance On Immigration 

Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state known for his push for strict voter ID laws and his authorship of Arizona's controversial immigration legislation, endorsed Donald Trump's presidential bid on Monday.

"For me, the most important issue in the Republican presidential contest is immigration and its effect on our national security. On that issue Mr. Trump stands head and shoulders above the other candidates," Kobach said in a written statement. "He has made it clear that ramping up the enforcement of our immigration laws will be his top priority. And he has forcefully rejected the notion of giving amnesty to illegal aliens living in the United States."

Kobach even argued that Trump should be able to get Mexico to pay for a wall along the southern border, something Trump has insisted he would be able to negotiate since early on in his campaign.

"On the subject of building the wall on our southern border, Mr. Trump is correct when he says that the United States has the ability to compel Mexico to pay for it," Kobach wrote.

He said that Trump should be able to use the Patriot Act as "leverage."

"We have the ability to shut down the flow of remittances to Mexico from illegal aliens working in the United States," Koach said in his statement. "Mexico will then have to make a choice: either make a single payment of $5-10 billion to the United States to pay for the wall, or lose most of the $23 billion in remittances that Mexico receives every year from its national working illegally in the United States."

Though he's focused on voter fraud as the Kansas secretary of state, Kobach has been involved in and outspoken about immigration issues. He helped write the Arizona law that allowed law enforcement to stop individuals who they thought might be in the country illegally. In 2014, he said that President Obama's executive actions on immigration could lead to "ethnic cleansing."

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