Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Douglas, Arizona, on Friday, marking her first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. Harris will deliver remarks calling for tighter border security measures as part of her efforts to address border issues, a senior campaign official said.
Harris plans to say that American sovereignty requires setting rules at the border and enforcing them, emphasizing that Border Patrol agents need more resources.
The vice president will make combating the fentanyl flow a centerpiece of her remarks, calling it a “top priority” for her presidency. Harris will propose adding fentanyl detection machines to entry points along the border and will call on the Chinese government to crack down on companies that make the precursor chemicals used in making fentanyl.
While Harris will emphasize the need for border security and address the lack of current resources, the vice president will also advocate for an immigration system that campaign officials say is “safe, orderly and humane” and is granted anonymity to speak freely about the prepared remarks .
As Harris tries to plead her case at the border, the… The Biden administration will soon take steps to tighten asylum restrictions it went into effect at the southern border this summer, officials told CBS News. The planned amended proclamation would make it less likely that asylum restrictions will be lifted in the near future, according to two U.S. officials who requested anonymity to discuss internal government plans. Officials credited the strict measure for a sharp decline of illegal border crossings in recent months.
Harris’ first border trip as a Democratic candidate comes as the vice president looks to make gains against her opponent, former President Donald Trump, on border issues. According to a recent CBS News poll, 58% of likely voters consider the U.S.-Mexico border an important factor in deciding who to vote for. The poll also found that 53% of likely voters would support Trump initiating a national program to hunt down and deport all immigrants in the U.S. illegally.
Trump and Republicans have long campaigned on the need for strong border security and have tried to blame Harris for the influx of illegal border crossings during the Biden administration.
During a press conference on Thursday in New York, Trump denounced Harris’ border visit, telling reporters that “she should save her plane ticket.”
“She should go back to the White House and tell the president to close the border,” Trump said. “He can do it just by signing a signature and a piece of paper at the Border Patrol.”
Harris will argue what Trump was responsible for, according to a senior campaign official scuttling a bipartisan border bill that would have introduced permanent asylum restrictions and allowed additional border agents and resources. Trump urged his allies in Congress earlier this year to reject the bill.
“The American people deserve a president who is more concerned about border security than playing political games,” Harris said, according to excerpts previewed by CBS News.
While Harris urged Congress to pass the bill during the campaign, Trump on Thursday called the legislation “horrible.”
“It would allow people to come in here at a level that would be incredible and allow them to obtain citizenship,” Trump told reporters. “It wasn’t a border law. It was an amnesty law.”
The measure, which failed to gain enough support from Senate Republicans in the spring, also included executive authority to turn away migrants during spikes in illegal immigration and would have increased legal immigration levels.
Camilo Montoya-Galvez contributed to this report.
