MCALLEN, Texas — President Donald Trump went to the Texas border on Thursday to make his case for building a border wall, bringing with him the brother of slain Newman Police Corporal Ronil Singh.
Reggie Singh, who sat next to President Trump during the hour-long discussion, supported Trump's initiative to build a wall on the southern border.
"The way he was killed, what my family is going through right now, I don't want any other family, law enforcement person to go through that," Singh said. "Whatever it takes to minimize, put a stop to it, my family fully supports it."
Investigators say the man responsible, Gustavo Perez Arriaga, was in the U.S. illegally, crossing the border years ago into Arizona.
Arriaga had multiple DUI arrests and ties to local gangs, officials said. they say, he was protected by California sanctuary laws.
Former Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson, who was the county's top cop at the time of the Cpl. Singh's death, blamed California's Sanctuary State law for the killing.
"We can't ignore the fact that this could have been preventable," Christianson said.
Trump's roundtable was with officials and families affected by people in the country illegally. Singh was invited to be a part of the border security conversation with Trump only days after having to bury his brother.
"I watched a family right around Christmastime and I watched them suffer," Trump said.
Singh said his brother always wanted to be a police officer, so his family immigrated to the country for him to fulfill those dreams.
Singh spoke on the impact of losing his brother the day after Christmas.
"No one should ever go through that," Singh said. "Looking at that 5-month-old baby looking for his dad—no one should ever go through that on Christmas Day."
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