3 Arizonans speak at Day 3 of Republican National Convention

PHOENIX – Arizona businessman David Lara and rancher Jim Chilton and his wife Sue spoke at the third day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Lara supported Donald Trump in his three-minute speech on Wednesday, praising his anti-illegal immigration policies and criticizing those of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Lara introduced himself as father, husband and business owner from a town that sits on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Lara lives in San Luis and is the owner of a water purification business called Desert Water in Yuma County and also serves on the Yuma Union High School board.

“Imagine being treated as second class citizens as chaos and crime overwhelm your streets,” Lara said. “I don’t have to imagine this. I have watched it with my own eyes.”

The businessman said there are not enough border agents to detain everyone. He also said Mexican drug cartels use school children “as mules” and that deadly drugs are transported through his community, bringing crime and violence.

“San Luis was not always this way and Joe Biden and 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.

“They have never set foot on my border town. Four years ago, (we had) President (Trump) who believes in borders and we (had) a president who traveled all the way to San Luis. We had a president who cared and we can have that president again.”

Lara encouraged voters to re-elect Trump so the former president could close the border and “stop the drugs from pouring in.”

The businessman continued, “We must re-elect Trump to imprison and deport violent gang members, instead of coddling them, (they) terrorize our nation.”

Arizona rancher and his wife speak on stage on Day 3 of the RNC

Chilton is a cattle rancher who lives in Arivaca, five and a half miles from the Arizona-Mexico border, on a 50,000-acre ranch. He told KTAR News 92.3 FM earlier this year that at least 35 migrants have died on his property after crossing illegally into the U.S. in recent years.

Chilton said it’s a known route for drug smuggling and human trafficking.

He said since Biden took office, their hidden cameras have recorded more than 3,500 drug packers and others dressed in camouflage traveling north through their ranch.

He has lived in the unincorporated community in Pima County, with less than 1,000 residents, since 1987. Many more immigrants have ended up at his house, where he’s given out food and water, according to Chilton.

He has called the situation at the southern border a “humanitarian crisis.”

In his five-minute speech on Wednesday, Chilton said, “These are not asylum seekers. It looks like and it feels like an invasion because it is.”

Chilton said in April alone, more than 5,000 additional, unvetted “aliens” entered their ranch. “We know firsthand that Biden’s open border is our nation’s greatest national security threat,” he continued.

Jim’s wife also spoke and said their house has been broken into twice and a border patrol agent was shot five times by drug smugglers on their ranch.

“Every time Jim leaves the Ranch House, I have to worry that he won’t come back alive,” Sue Chilton said.

Three crossers died of dehydration on their ranch this year, according to Sue.

“Under President Donald Trump, it wasn’t like this and if we bring him back, I know he’ll stop it again,” Sue said.

When Biden took office, the Trump wall was nearly complete on their ranch, according to Jim. However, Biden ended construction and stopped the installation of all the planned electronics since then, according to the rancher.

“Biden, Harris and the Democrats who support open borders are complicit in this death in the deaths of tens of thousands of American citizens,” Jim said.

Jim encouraged voters to re-elect Trump so the former president could finish the wall and “end the cartels” before a “build that wall” chant broke out.

What other Arizona residents appeared at the RNC?

Chilton and Lara are the last two Arizonans expected to speak during the convention, which concludes Thursday night with Donald Trump formally accepting his party’s presidential nomination.

On Monday night, Sara Workman, a single Arizona mother selected as an “everyday American” speaker, talked about the economic hurdles she faces while raising her son.

Then on Tuesday, Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake had her turn in the convention spotlight.

Follow @KTAR923