Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman voiced support for President Donald Trump, in a new radio interview, giving him a positive job performance.
In an appearance on the Domenick Nati Show Friday, Chapman refused to specifically say who he voted for in the 2016 presidential election, but went on to praise Trump.
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“I think he’s going a pretty bang-up job,” Chapman said. “I know that there needs to be a wall. Eighty-five percent of the drugs – fentanyl, heroin and cocaine – come from Mexico.”
Chapman continued, “If that wall stopped a quarter of the drugs coming through it’s going to save lives.”
Chapman’s claim that “84 percent of the drugs” come through Mexico echoes similar claims by Trump and his administration to justify building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. However, a recent analysis by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection found that most illegal drugs come to the U.S. through ports of entry, not in the areas where new barriers could be built along the border.
The analysis reported that 90 percent of heroin, 88 percent of cocaine, 87 percent of methamphetamine and 80 percent of fentanyl during the first 11 months of the 2018 fiscal year were caught during smuggling attempts across legal points of entry. Border experts said that this is an accurate picture of how most drug cartels get their drugs into the U.S., even though the statistics only include seized drugs, reports USA Today.
Trump has insisted on $5.7 billion to built the wall, even letting a government shutdown last 35 days, from Dec. 22, 2018 to Jan. 25, over the funds. In February, Trump issued a state of emergency declaration to get the funding, a move that Congress attempted to block. However, after Trump vetoed the measure, House Democrats did not get enough Republicans to vote with them for the two-thirds majority needed to overturn the veto.
On Friday, Trump said on Twitter he will be closing “large sections” of the border with Mexico as soon as next week.
“Closing the border will be a profit-making operation,” Trump told reporters Friday, reports Bloomberg. He said he plans to have a news conference were the government is already starting to build the wall.
“Mexico could stop it,” the president said. “It’s very easy for them to stop people from coming up, and they choose not to do it.”
Trump also announced plans to stop aide to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, the countries where most migrants who attempt to reach the U.S. through Mexico come from.
Last year, Chapman joined the hunt for Shawn Christy, a fugitive who threatened Trump in Facebook posts. Chapman said he was hired by a friend of Christy’s family to find him, reports ABC13. Federal marshalls said Christy was captured in September 2018.
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