Retired Army Lt. Col. Warren Douglas Quets said he was never outwardly political.
That all changed Thursday when he joined former President Donald Trump on stage during a rally in Henderson, Nevada.
Quetsâ talked about his son, Nicholas Douglas Quets, who was killed by an alleged drug cartel along the Caborca-Altar Highway on Oct. 19 â 30 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, per Fox News.
âI really wasnât planning on being here,â Warren Douglas Quets said. âTwo weeks ago, I was a completely apolitical actor. Anybody outside my own home wouldnât have known who I would have voted for. Today. The situation changed for me two weeks ago.â
After his son was killed, he was able to see the difference in presidential candidates first-hand.
He met with Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), three days after the younger Quets was killed.
âSo when you wonder about where America really is and what the stories are, you donât have to wonder anymore. The man next to me and his vice presidential nominee, a current seated senator, both met with me within 36 hours of asking, and both took up the cause,â Quets said.
âIt is the policy that contributed to my son being killed. It is the policy thatâs contributing to the death of other Americans,â he said. âIt is the policy thatâs contributing to fentanyl coming into the United States. Those are political failures, and we need to end them.â
According to Mexican officials, Nicholas Quets, 31, didnât stop at a cartel checkpoint. At that point, a group of armed men followed his pick-up truck and started shooting in a âdirect attack.â
Mexican authorities have reportedly made arrests in the killing but the elder Quets wants his sonâs killers extradited to the U.S.
âWhat I want is sponsorship of a couple things,â Quets said. âOne is change to U.S. code so that if people committed crimes against U.S. persons, especially murder, they are brought back here to face our justice. Number two is legislation that is enacted that takes us someplace closer to a plan in Mexico thatâll institute not only military capability, but also institution building.â
Quets said Trump had a âtear in his eyeâ as the two spoke. He added he believes Trump will âkeepâ his promise to seek justice if elected.
On the other hand, when the family reached out to attend a rally with Harrisâ running mate Gov. Tim Walz, they were told there was no room nor could they meet with Walz.
The Harris campaign has not commented on the matter.
âThatâs incredible and frankly, to do that, to be able to do that literally just a few days after this horrible event happened is pretty amazing,â Trump said at the rally.
âIâll tell you. Weâll take care of it. Weâre going to take care of it. Weâre going to get that guy. Weâre going to get him. Weâre going to get him. They know who he is. Can you believe it? They know who he is. Nothingâs done. Mexico is going to give them to us. Mexico is going to give them to us. They have to. They have to. Itâs going to be real easy. When Iâm president, weâre going to put the drug smugglers and human traffickers. Weâre going to put them right out of business. Theyâre killing hundreds of thousands of people in our country.â
The reaction was swift on X, formerly Twitter.