Harris will visit the US-Mexico border for the first time as a presidential candidate
Vice President Kamala Harris This Friday he will make his first visit to the border between USA and Mexico since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee less than six weeks before the election, aiming to directly confront one of her campaign’s major weaknesses.
Harris you plan to visit Douglas, Arizonawhile the former president Donald Trump and her Republican allies are coming under fire over the administration’s immigration handling Biden and singling her out for not paying enough attention to the border during her time in the US The White House.
The immigration and security on the border they occupy a central place in Arizonaone of the few states that is contiguous Mexico and that last year she registered a record number of asylum applications.
trump has an advantage among voters on immigration policy, so Harris went on the offensive to strengthen his vulnerable position and disable one of the former president’s main lines of political attack.
In almost all of his pre-election speeches Harris mention how your bilateral project, that he is going to reform the country’s immigration system, failed in Congress at the beginning of this year, as Trump pressured top Republicans to oppose it.
After this legislative blockade, the administration of Biden it introduced rules that bar asylum to migrants if authorities judge the southern border to be saturated. since Arrests for illegal crossings have dropped.
“The American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games,” he plans to say Harrisaccording to an excerpt of his statement provided by his campaign.
Harris He will also use his visit to remind voters of his experience as Attorney General Californiawhen he fought crime on the border. During the meeting in Glendalealmost Phoenixin August he talked about how helped prosecute drug and human trafficking gangs which operated transnationally and across borders.
“I tried them over and over and won.he said then Harris.
Florida Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost, the youngest member of Congress at age 27 and one of the leading proponents Harris among young and Hispanic voters, he said that by supporting stricter measures Harris is trying to “get into the hearts” of voters. “He understands that he exists right now. crisis at the border. “It’s a humanitarian crisis.”.
“That’s why it supports more resources at the border so that there’s due process, which is really important,” he added. Frost. “But the thing is, it stays there. Donald Trump: only in strict application of the law.”
On Thursday, before his opponent arrived, trump launched into a long tirade from New Yorkwith that “Everything I say tomorrow, as you know, will be a farce, because protecting our country was the worst in history.” He’ll try to look a little better, but it’s not possible.’
A day earlier, at a rally in North Carolina, Trump also told supporters: “When Kamala talks about the border, her credibility is less than zero.”
Campaign from trump She also responded with television ads mocking the vice president as a failed “border czar.” “There are over 10 million illegals here with Harris,” said one of the ads. However, it is estimated how many people have entered the country illegally since the administration began Biden in 2021 it varies considerably.
Harris He never held the position of “border tsar”. Its task was to address the “main causes” of migration from three Central American countries – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras— which represented a large part of the migration flow towards the border.
The Vice President accepted a long-term focusconvince multinational corporations and Latin American companies to invest in the region. This, he said, would create jobs and give residents more reasons to stay in their countries.
even so trump continues to report a “invasion” of migrants. Polls show most Americans trust him more than Harris to handle immigration.
Douglasthe place where Harris will be presented, it is a locality majority democratic border in the county Cochise, controlled by the Republican Partywhose overseers face criminal charges for refusing to certify the results of the 2022 election, Trump toured the area last month, using a remote stretch of border wall and a stack of steel girders as a visual contrast between his stance on border security and that of Harris.
City 16,000 inhabitants has strong ties with its much larger neighbor, Agua Prieta, v Mexicoand has a busy port of entry that is slated for a long overdue upgrade. Many residents are interested in streamlining legal border crossings as well as fighting illegal ones.
(With information from AP)