Vice President Harris The Republicans will stop in battleground Arizona to hold a campaign event at the U.S. southern border with Mexico on Friday as the Democratic presidential candidates work to turn the issue of immigration and border security from a negative to a positive.
Harris has faced continued attacks from her Republican rival, former president trumpand his allies who argue he is weak on border security, an issue that many Republicans see as a political weakness for the vice president. Harris has faced intense criticism over the surge of migrants at the country’s southern border during the first three years of President Biden’s administration.
The Trump campaign called it a “political ploy” on the eve of Harris’s first border visit as a presidential candidate.
But Harris’ goal with the stop in Douglas, Arizona, is to show she is better prepared than Trump to deal with the burning issue of immigration and what Republicans have highlighted as the crisis at the southern border.
Harris focused on border security and Trump enjoyed the fight
Vice President Harris, the Democrat presidential nominee, is shown at a rally in Glendale, Arizona, on August 9, 2024. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The vice president is expected to speak about how she is advancing what she describes as the toughest bipartisan border security plan in a generation, a measure that includes new measures to curb fentanyl smuggling. Border agents and technologies are included.
And he is expected to reiterate his argument that Trump is “talking a big deal about securing our border, but he’s not following through on it.”
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He has repeatedly pointed to a border security A bill with some bipartisan support was making its way through Congress this year before Republicans turned against the measure following Trump’s indictment.
Harris has said that the former president “made the bipartisan deal because he thought it would help him win the election” and has pledged that “as president, I will bring back the border security bill that Donald Trump killed. “
Former President Trump speaks at the US-Mexico border south of Sierra Vista, Ariz., on August 22, 2024. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
since the change biden More than two months ago on the Democrats’ 2024 ticket, Harris described herself as a former “border state prosecutor” who prosecuted international gangs and criminal organizations behind cross-border illegal drug, gun and human trafficking. Was attacked.
The details come as Harris and her campaign have also highlighted a tough stance on border security, while still pushing for a path to citizenship for some migrants.
“We need a comprehensive plan,” Harris said in an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday. “That includes what we need to do not only to strengthen our border but also to deal with the fact that we also need to create pathways for people to earn citizenship.”
Biden tasked Harris in 2021 with leading diplomatic outreach to Central American countries to tackle the “root causes” of migration. This led him to be dubbed the “Border Czar” by both the media and some Republicans, although the White House has rejected that description. And the vice president has been condemned by Trump and his allies for his role as “Biden’s border czar.”
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Trump, as he runs to get his old job back at the White House, is calling for a major crackdown on the US-Mexico border and has threatened to use police and military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented migrants. It is suggested to do.
Speaking at a campaign event in North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump said Harris was traveling to the southern border for “political reasons.”
“When Kamala speaks about the border, her credibility is less than zero,” Trump said. “I hope you’ll remember this on Friday. When she tells you about the limit, just ask her a simple question: ‘Why didn’t you do this four years ago?'”
Trump has said that the policies of the Biden-Harris administration have allowed millions of people to enter America illegally.
In June, after the collapse of a bipartisan border security bill, Biden announced rules that block migrants from being granted asylum when US officials say there is pressure at the US-Mexico border. Following the implementation of new regulations through executive orders, arrests for illegal border crossings have decreased.
Polls indicate that immigration and abortion are the top two issues on the minds of American voters, after the economy and inflation.
And opinion polls, including from Fox News, indicate that double-digit numbers of Americans believe Trump will do a better job than Harris of handling the issue.
Trump last visited the border last month during a stop in Arizona, one of seven key battleground states that will likely determine the winner of the presidential election.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
