U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris visited the U.S.-Mexico border in Douglas Arizona on Friday to address criticism of her record on immigration.
This marked her first trip to the border since becoming the nominee and came in response to months of attacks from Republicans, particularly Donald Trump regarding her handling of migration issues.
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| Vice President Kamala Harris - Getty Images |
During her visit, Harris visited a section of the border wall with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, discussing their efforts to combat trafficking and border security. The timing of her trip lined up with reports that there are currently 600,000 criminal migrants in the U.S., which further fueled the ongoing debate on border policies.
In her policy announcement, Kamala Harris revealed that if she were to win the presidency, she would not only continue President Joe Biden’s current asylum restrictions but also implement stricter measures.
She plans to maintain the emergency authority barring many migrants from asylum and aims to make it even more difficult to lift these restrictions. Harris emphasized that the number of border crossings must drop below the current level of 1,500 before easing these measures.
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| Vice President Kamala Harris in Douglas, Ariz., on Friday.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times |
This policy reflects the Biden administration's existing approach, which has tightened asylum rules in response to overwhelming numbers of migrants at the southern border. Harris's visit and policy statements were aimed at directly confronting her critics including Trump, who has repeatedly attacked her over the issue.
Trump heavily criticized Harris's border visit during a press conference, questioning the timing and suggesting she was merely reacting to political pressure. He accused her of failing to address border issues during her tenure as Vice President, highlighting her role in addressing the root causes of migration, a responsibility assigned to her by President Biden in 2021.
Republicans have labeled Harris as the "border czar" which her team rejects. Also, her visit to Arizona a critical battleground state demonstrated her intention to take control of the border debate and shift the narrative.
Harris's goal is to tackle one of her most politically sensitive issues, attempting to turn the tables on her Republican opponents who have used the high number of migrant crossings as a key point of criticism against her.