Kamala Harris headed to the southern border on Friday as she seeks to burnish a tougher image on border security and immigration.
The Democratic presidential nominee will hold an event in Douglas, Ariz. to tout her policies to limit the number of illegal crossings and close the gap with former President Trump among voters on perceptions of handling the border.
She will call for more resources for border patrol officers and stepped-up enforcement to stop trafficking of drugs like fentanyl, a Harris campaign official told reporters in a preview of the event.
“American sovereignty requires setting rules at the border and enforcing them,” the official said. “(Harris will) reject the false choice between securing the border and creating an immigration system that is safe, orderly and humane — arguing we must do both to protect our country’s security and enduring legacy as a nation of immigrants.”
Harris plans to slam Trump as she has done for months over his decision to torpedo a border security compromise with conservative Republicans because the GOP candidate suspected the deal could hurt his campaign.
“The American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games,” Harris plans to say, according to her campaign.
Trump counters by branding Harris as a failed so-called “border czar” because she was tasked by Biden to improve conditions in the so-called northern triangle of Central America.
The former president says Harris and Biden bear responsibility for millions of migrants and asylum-seekers who have crossed into the U.S. on their watch.
Harris trumpets the executive action taken by President Biden after the collapse of that deal with Congress for significantly reducing the number of migrants crossing the border between Mexico and the U.S.
Monthly border crossings are now at low levels similar to those in the last months of the Trump administration in 2020, a tentative policy success that has blunted a key political edge for Trump and his Republican allies.
Harris wants to convince voters that it’s a “false choice” to pick either tough border security or a humane immigration policy. She hopes to forge a deal that could create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. along with new rules to allow others to come legally instead of simply crossing the border.
The Harris campaign also unveiled a new ad on Friday that will run in Arizona and other battleground states. In the 30-second spot, entitled “Never Back Down,” the narrator outlines parts of the border deal.
“She will secure our border. Here’s her plan — hire thousands of more border agents, enforce the law and step up technology and stop fentanyl smuggling and human trafficking,” a narrator says in the ad. “We need a leader with a real plan to fix the border and that’s Kamala Harris.”