An Arizona ranching couple appeared at the Republican National Convention Wednesday to detail their experience with illegal immigration, which they say has surged five-fold on their border land under President Joe Biden.
“It looks like and feels like an invasion because it is.” said Jim Chilton. Hidden camera footage of migrants crossing his land was displayed on the arena screens as he talked. He said that more than 5,000 people entered his ranch in April alone.
“We know firsthand that Biden’s open border is America’s greatest national security threat. We need to make America safe again,” Chilton said.
Chants of “Build that wall! Build that wall!” broke out among the delegates, when Chilton complained that Biden had stopped construction on the border. Migrant crossings quintupled after construction stopped, he asserted.
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“The fact is walls work. We must elect Donald Trump to finish the wall,” he said.
Chilton’s wife, Sue, said three migrants have died this year of dehydration. She also asserted that smugglers are carrying drugs north across the border. “This is chemical warfare,” she said.
Delegate holds a "mass deportation now" sign on the RNC floor. Jim Chilton became well known in the industry for defending his ranch in an ultimately successful defamation suit brought against the Center for Biological Diversity, whom he accused of mischaracterizing conditions on his ranch. He won $600,000, including $500,000 in punitive damages.
As detailed in an article in the New Times, the center used photos from Chilton’s ranch to illustrate damage from grazing. But Chilton convinced a jury that the pictures were misleading.
“A Tucson jury found the Center guilty of malicious, knowing misrepresentations concerning the conditions on the well-managed allotment,” the Chilton Ranch & Cattle Co. website says.
The center said at the time that none of them were doctored and called them “substantially true,” but its appeal was rejected.
Chilton has testified in Congress several times. In May, he told the House Judiciary Committee that the border wall started by Trump needs to be completed.
Chilton was named “Rancher of the Year” in 2003 by the Arizona Cattle Growers Association and subsequently received the “True Grit” award in 2005. Also in 2005, he and his wife, Sue, were awarded the Arizona Farm Bureau “Oscar” for outstanding achievement and the Farm Bureau “Environmental Stewardship” award.
Sue Chilton served on the Arizona Game and Fish Commission from 2000 to 2005.
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