among Constant criticism of former President Trump Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday made her first visit to the US-Mexico border since 2021 and announced she would take more stringent steps as president to restrict entry at the border.
“The United States of America is a sovereign nation, and I believe it is our duty to set the rules at our border and enforce them,” Harris told those gathered in a small auditorium at the Cochise College Douglas campus in Douglas, Arizona. Told the crowd. Where there were large boards on the stage which read, “Border Security and Stability.” “We are also a nation of immigrants. The United States has been enriched by generations of people who have come from every corner of the world to contribute to our country and be a part of the American story.
Harris said she would go further than the Biden administration’s policies to further restrict border access outside official ports of entry.
Earlier in the afternoon, Harris visited a port of entry less than 10 miles from the campaign event. Two Border Patrol agents walked with him along the high fence, which was built during the Obama administration. Harris later told reporters that she thanked him for his work.
“They’ve got a tough job and they need support, appropriately, to do their job. They’re very dedicated,” she said. “And so I’m here to talk to them about what we can continue to do to support them.”
He advocated hiring more officers and adding more fentanyl detection systems at border entry points.
Harris said, “I reject the false choice that suggests we must choose between either securing our border or creating a system of immigration that is safe, orderly, and humane.” “We can and we must do both.”
Immigration reform has vexed presidents of both parties for decades.
A bipartisan proposal earlier this year that included jointly increased funding for border security and foreign aid to Ukraine seemed to be a success at first until Trump urged Republicans to oppose it. Was.
Kamala Harris speaks at the Cochise College Douglas campus in Douglas, Arizona, on Friday.
(Caroline Castor/Associated Press)
The deal fell short of broader plans discussed for decades that would revamp the asylum system and legal immigration process and provide a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million people in the country without legal authorization, including those who Came as children. Harris on Friday mentioned farm workers and immigrants who arrived as children, known as “Dreamers.”
“As president, I will put politics aside to fix our immigration system and find solutions to problems that have persisted for too long,” Harris said.
Ahead of Harris’ visit to the border, Trump pointed to reports that there are more than 425,000 convicted criminals in the country illegally, according to data provided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in response to a lawmaker’s request. are, but have not been detained by federal authorities. ,
This includes more than 13,000 convicted of murder and more than 15,800 convicted of sexual assault. ICE data shared onFormerly Twitter, by Representative Tony Gonzales (R-Texas).
Trump said on Thursday that 21 million people have entered the country illegally in the last four years. He designed the bipartisan effort that helped defeat “His atrocious border bill.”
“This was not a border bill. It was an amnesty bill…” he said at a news conference in Manhattan. “Fortunately Congress was very smart about it.”
This bill will not provide a path to citizenship for those who lack legal status.
The GOP nominee’s appearance at Trump Tower was reminiscent of his 2015 campaign announcement, particularly his references to other countries intentionally sending criminals to the United States.
Her comments included several lies, such as saying that Harris approved several changes to the country’s immigration policies, over which she had no control as vice president, and that she was the Biden administration’s “border czar.” . He was accused of trying to improve conditions in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras by preventing residents of those countries from fleeing their homeland.
That assignment has been a political headache for Harris — drawing criticism from both the left and the right.
one in 2021 tour of central americaHarris told would-be immigrants they would be deported if they crossed the border, angering allies of the immigrants who said they were fleeing poverty, corruption and violence.
“Don’t come,” she said at that time. “You will be turned away.”
On the same trip, Harris laughed off questions in a nationally televised interview about why she had not yet visited the border as vice president, infuriating right-wing critics.
both are political parties Hyper-focus on immigration Because while the presidential race is very tight in the polls, Trump has a double-digit lead on the issue of border security. However, this lead has diminished since President Biden decided not to contest re-election And Harris gathered support To become the Democratic presidential nominee.
Border stops in December set a record, with agents making nearly 250,000 arrests. As the political problem escalated, Biden signed an order in June impose severe restrictions on asylum claimsDue to which there was a huge decline in border encounters in July and August to less than 60,000.
Republicans are pouncing on the issue, with GOP members of Congress filing a resolution calling on the Biden administration and its border czar, Kamala Harris, to “secure the United States’ border” a day after the president announced he would not seek reelection. Failure to do so is strongly condemned”.
While some of the claims by the former president and his allies are patently false and have been condemned by GOP elected officials, such as the allegation that Haitian immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, the border remains unsafe among some voters. There are concerns about the impact of. The economy, crime, and fentanyl crisis are evident in many communities.
Friday was Harris’ second visit to Arizona since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, according to the Harris-Walz campaign. While Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and others have roamed the southwestern battleground states, Harris has focused much of her personal campaigning in the east in key states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia.
Hours before the vice president landed in Arizona, the Republican held a press call that included two mothers whose daughters were raped and murdered by immigrants living in the country illegally and the mother of a teenage son who took fentanyl. Had consumed it in excess quantity. The women criticized the administration’s immigration policy and Harris for visiting the border so close to the election.
“I’m trying very hard not to cry. We live 1,800 miles from the border,” said Patty Morin, mother of Rachel Morin, a mother of five who was brutally attacked while walking on a busy and well-traveled public road in Maryland. His body was found in a drain pipe.
“No one is safe in America, no one is safe. If your state has a sanctuary city, you are not protected,” she said. “They have bussed, flown, trained illegal immigrants into every nook and cranny and every small town throughout the United States.”
Such fears are among the reasons the Harris campaign released an ad on Friday about immigration into Arizona, and visited the southern border less than a month and a half before Election Day. As vice president, he had previously visited the region once in 2021, when he visited the port of entry and border operations in El Paso.
Mehta reported from Phoenix and Pinho reported from Douglas. Times staff writers Noah Berman and Andrea Castillo contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.
