US election live: Trump and Harris expected in Pennsylvania with little over three weeks until vote

Donald Trump pledged on Sunday to hire an extra 10,000 border patrol agents if he is reelected as president as he steps up his hardline rhetoric on immigration, Reuters reports.

The Republican presidential candidate said he would meet the goal by asking Congress to fund a 10% pay rise for border patrol agents and a $10,000 retention and signing bonus, at a rally in the border state of Arizona, an election battleground. There are currently about 20,000 border patrol officers, so the pledge would see a sizeable increase in the force.

Flanked on stage by leaders of the Border Patrol union, who have endorsed Trump, the former president said: “This will ensure that we can hire and keep the Border Patrol agents that we need.”

Trump has noticeably hardened his anti-immigration rhetoric in the final weeks of the campaign. Last month he called immigrants in the US illegally who commit violent crimes “monsters,” “stone-cold killers” and “vile animals.” On Friday he called for the death penalty for “any migrant” who kills a US citizen.

Critics say Trump’s rhetoric reinforces racist tropes – studies generally find there is no evidence immigrants commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans.

Good morning and welcome to the US elections blog with a little over three weeks to go until Americans head to the polls.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were speaking last night and are back on the campaign trail today with both expected to hold events later in the swing state of Pennsylvania. Here’s a round-up of what happened overnight in the US.

• A man with a shotgun, loaded handgun, ammunition and several fake passports in his vehicle was arrested at a security checkpoint outside Donald Trump’s rally Saturday night in the Southern California desert, police said. He was released the same day on $5,000 bail. The suspect, a 49-year-old resident of Las Vegas, was driving an unregistered black SUV with a “homemade” license plate that was stopped by deputies assigned to the rally in Coachella, east of Los Angeles, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said at a news conference.

• Kamala Harris and Donald Trump spent Sunday trying to shore up political support among what they perceived to be must-have voting blocs. Polls show them locked in a tight 5 November presidential race.

• Trump pledged on Sunday to hire an extra 10,000 border patrol agents if he is reelected as president. The Republican presidential candidate said he would meet the goal by asking the US Congress to fund a 10% pay rise for border patrol agents and a $10,000 retention and signing bonus, at a rally in the border state of Arizona, an election battleground.

• Harris held a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, where she attacked her rival for spreading misinformation related to hurricanes Helene and Milton. “From him, we are just hearing from that same, old tired playbook,” she said. “He has no plan for how he would address the needs of the American people. He is only focused on himself.”

• Both Harris and Trump will be in Pennsylvania later today. Harris is speaking in the city of Erie and Trump is on the stump in Oaks, a small community about 20 miles from Philadelphia.

• Speaker Mike Johnson said that passing additional hurricane aid for states impacted by hurricanes Helene and Milton “can wait” until Congress is back in session after the election.

• Three major polls were released Sunday, showing Kamala Harris either ahead of Donald Trump or running a head-to-head race.