Current:Home > reviewsHarris heads to the US-Mexico border to face down criticism of her record -PureWealth Academy
Harris heads to the US-Mexico border to face down criticism of her record
View
Date:2025-04-18 05:54:47
PHOENIX (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday will make her first visit to the U.S.-Mexico border since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee to confront head-on one of her biggest vulnerabilities ahead of the November election.
She is scheduled to appear in Douglas, Arizona, as former President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans pound Harris relentlessly over the Biden administration’s record on migration and fault the vice president for spending little time visiting the border during her time in the White House.
Immigration and border security are top issues in Arizona, the only battleground state that borders Mexico and one that contended with a record influx of asylum seekers last year. Trump has an edge with voters on migration, and Harris has gone on offense to improve her standing on the issue and defuse a key line of political attack for Trump.
In nearly every campaign speech she gives, Harris recounts how a sweeping bipartisan package aiming to overhaul the federal immigration system collapsed in Congress earlier this year after Trump urged top Republicans to oppose it.
“The American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games,” Harris plans to say, according to an excerpt of her remarks previewed by her campaign.
After the immigration legislation stalled, the Biden administration announced rules that bar migrants from being granted asylum when U.S. officials deem that the southern border is overwhelmed. Since then, arrests for illegal border crossings have fallen.
Harris will also use her trip to remind voters about her work as attorney general of California in confronting crime along the border. During an August rally in Glendale, outside Phoenix, she talked about helping to prosecute drug- and people-smuggling gangs that operated transnationally and at the border.
“I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won,” Harris said then.
Florida Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost, at 27 the youngest member of Congress and a leading advocate for Harris with young and Hispanic voters, said that in backing stricter enforcement, Harris is trying to “strike a chord” and “she understands that, right now, there is a crisis at the border. It’s a humanitarian crisis.”
“That’s why she’s pushing for more resources at the border so that we have an orderly process, which is really important,” Frost said. “But, the thing is, that’s where Donald Trump stops, is just at enforcement.”
The vice president’s trip to Douglas thrusts the issue of immigration into the brightest spotlight yet less than six weeks before Election Day.
Trump didn’t wait for her to arrive there before pushing back.
On Thursday, he delivered a lengthy diatribe from New York, declaring that “anything she says tomorrow, you know is a fraud because she was the worst in history at protecting our country. So she’ll try and make herself look a little bit better. But it’s not possible.”
A day earlier, at a rally in North Carolina, Trump told voters that “when Kamala speaks about the border, her credibility is less than zero.”
The Trump campaign has also countered with its own TV ads deriding the vice president as a failed “border czar.”
What to know about the 2024 Election
- Today’s news: Follow live updates from the campaign trail from the AP.
- Ground Game: Sign up for AP’s weekly politics newsletter to get it in your inbox every Monday.
- AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more.
“Under Harris, over 10 million illegally here,” said one spot. However, estimates on how many people have entered the country illegally since the start of the Biden administration in 2021 vary widely.
Harris also never held the position of border czar. Instead, her assignment was to tackle the “root causes” of migration from three Central American nations — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — that were responsible for a significant share of border crossers.
The vice president took a long-term approach to an immediate problem, helping persuade multinational corporations and Latin American businesses to invest in the region. That, she argued, would create jobs and give locals more reasons to stay home rather than take the arduous trek north.
Still, Trump has continued to decry an “invasion” of border crossers.
Polls show that most American trust him to handle immigration more than they do Harris.
Douglas, where Harris will appear, is an overwhelmingly Democratic border town in GOP-dominated Cochise County, where the Republicans on the board of supervisors are facing criminal charges for refusing to certify the 2022 election results. Trump was in the area last month, using a remote stretch of border wall and a pile of steel beams to draw a contrast between himself and Harris on border security.
The town of 16,000 people has strong ties to its much larger neighbor, Agua Prieta, Mexico, and a busy port of entry that’s slated for a long-sought upgrade. Many locals are as concerned with making legal border crossings more efficient as they are with combatting illegal ones.
___
Weissert reported from Washington.
veryGood! (8)
Related
- Buckingham Palace staff under investigation for 'bar brawl'
- Mitchell has 33 points, but Cavaliers can’t contain Tatum and Brown in Game 3 loss to Celtics
- How Ryan Dorsey and Son Josey Will Honor Naya Rivera on Mother's Day
- 10 best new Broadway plays and musicals you need to see this summer, including 'Illinoise'
- USA women's basketball live updates at Olympics: Start time vs Nigeria, how to watch
- The most stolen cars in America? See the list for 2023
- Marc Benioff lunch auction raises $1.5M for charity. Not bad for first year without Warren Buffett
- Vasiliy Lomachenko vs George Kambosos Jr. live updates: How to watch, stream fight, predictions
- Audit: California risked millions in homelessness funds due to poor anti-fraud protections
- Cavaliers crash back to earth as Celtics grab 2-1 lead in NBA playoffs series
Ranking
- North Carolina trustees approve Bill Belichick’s deal ahead of introductory news conference
- Who's hosting 'SNL' tonight? Cast, musical guest, where to watch May 11 episode
- McDonald's is considering a $5 meal to win back customers. Here's what you'd get.
- Mets' J.D. Martinez breaks up Braves' no-hit bid with home run with two outs in ninth
- How breaking emerged from battles in the burning Bronx to the Paris Olympics stage
- MALCOIN Trading Center: Light is on the Horizon
- Despite Indiana’s strong record of second-in-command women, they’ve never held its highest office
- Are cicadas dangerous? What makes this double brood so special? We asked an expert.
Recommendation
Beware of giant spiders: Thousands of tarantulas to emerge in 3 states for mating season
Roger Corman, Hollywood mentor and ‘King of the Bs,’ dies at 98
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
Israel moves deeper into Rafah and fights Hamas militants regrouping in northern Gaza
New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
Save Up to 81% Off Stylish Swimsuits & Cover-Ups at Nordstrom Rack: Billabong, Tommy Bahama & More
Aces star A'ja Wilson announces Nike contract for her own signature shoe
California has a multibillion-dollar budget deficit. Here’s what you need to know