Harris heads to the southern border to flip the script on immigration criticism

Vice President Harris will stop in battleground Arizona on Friday to hold a campaign event along the US southern border with Mexico, as the Democratic presidential candidate works to turn the issue of immigration and border security from a burden to a strength.

Harris has faced frequent attacks from her Republican opponent, former President Trump, and his allies, who say she is weak on border security, an issue that many Republicans see as the vice president’s political Achilles heel. Harris has faced intense criticism over the flow of migrants across the country’s southern border during the first three years of President Biden’s administration.

The Trump campaign, on the eve of Harris’ first border visit as a presidential candidate, called it a “political ploy.”

And the former president, speaking to reporters in New York City, claimed that “anything she says tomorrow, you know, is a hoax, because she was the worst in history at protecting our country.” little better. But that’s not possible.”

But Harris wants to show with a stop in Douglas, Arizona, that she is better prepared than Trump to tackle the combustible issue of immigration and what Republicans have highlighted as the crisis at the southern border.

HARRIS LEANS ON BORDER SECURITY AND TRUMP ENJOYS THE FIGHT

Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, 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 talk about how she is implementing the toughest bipartisan border security plan in a generation, a measure that includes new border agents and technologies to stop the fentanyl trade.

And she is expected to repeat her argument that Trump has “made a big play about securing our border, but he is not making the move.”

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She has repeatedly pointed to a bipartisan border security bill that passed Congress this year before Republicans turned against the measure at Trump’s urging.

Harris has said the former president “rejected the bipartisan deal because he thought it would help him win elections” and has promised that “as president, I will bring back the border security law that killed Donald Trump.”

Former President Trump speaks at the US-Mexico border south of Sierra Vista, Ariz. on August 22, 2024. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Since replacing Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket more than two months ago, Harris has described herself as a former “border prosecutor” who has taken on international gangs and criminal organizations behind illegal drug, arms and human trafficking across the border.

The description comes as Harris and her campaign have also highlighted a tougher 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 to not only strengthen our border, but also deal with the fact that we also need to create pathways for people to earn citizenship.”

In conjunction with the border stop, the Harris campaign is launching a new ad that will play in Arizona and other battleground states, highlighting her past border efforts and plans.

“She put cartel members and drug traffickers behind bars and she will secure our border,” the narrator says in the commercial.

Biden tasked Harris in 2021 to lead diplomatic outreach to address the “root causes” of migration in Central American countries. It led to her being 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 pilloried by Trump and his allies for her role as “Biden’s border czar.”

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As Trump tries to reclaim his old job in the White House, he is calling for a massive crackdown on the U.S.-Mexico border and has proposed using police and the military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

At a campaign rally in North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump said Harris traveled to the southern border for “political reasons.”

“If Kamala talks about the border, her credibility is less than zero,” Trump said. “I hope you will remember that on Friday. When she tells you about the border, ask her one simple question: ‘Why didn’t you do that four years ago?'”

On Thursday, on the eve of Harris’ visit, Trump asked: “Why would she go to the border now and play right into her opponent’s hands?”

“She keeps talking about how she supposedly wants to fix the border. We would just ask, ‘Why didn’t she do it four years ago?’” the former president said in New York City.

Trump has repeatedly accused the Biden-Harris administration’s policies of allowing millions of people to enter the U.S. illegally.

In June, after the collapse of the bipartisan border security law, Biden announced rules barring migrants from receiving asylum when U.S. officials say the U.S.-Mexico border is overwhelmed. Following the implementation of the new rules through executive orders, arrests for illegal border crossings have fallen sharply.

Polls show that immigration and abortion are two of the top issues on the minds of American voters, following the economy and inflation.

And polls, including those from Fox News, indicate that Americans believe by double digits that Trump would do better than Harris on the issue.

Trump last visited the border last month during a stop in Arizona, one of seven crucial battleground states likely to determine the winner of the presidential election.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

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