Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to visit Douglas, Arizona, on Friday, marking her first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. Harris will deliver a speech to call for tougher border security measures as part of her efforts to resolve border issues, according to a senior campaign official.
Harris plans to say that American sovereignty requires establishing rules at the border and enforcing them, emphasizing that Border Patrol agents need more resources.
The vice president will make the fight against the flow of fentanyl a central point of her speech and will call it a “top priority” of her presidency. Harris will propose adding fentanyl detection machines to ports of entry along the border and 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 to ensure border security and address current resource shortages, the vice president will also advocate for a “safe, orderly and humane” immigration system, according to officials. campaign who were granted anonymity to speak freely on prepared remarks.
As Harris prepares to make his case at the border, the Biden administration to soon tighten asylum restrictions it was passed at the southern border over the 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 attributed this strict measure sudden fall illegal border crossings in recent months.
Harris’ first trip to the border as a Democratic candidate comes as the vice president seeks to gain on her opponent, former President Donald Trump, on border issues. According to a recent CBS News poll, 58 percent of likely voters view the U.S.-Mexico border as a major factor in deciding who they will vote for. The poll also found that 53% of likely voters would support Trump launching a national program to track down and deport all immigrants who are in the United States illegally.
Trump and Republicans have long campaigned on the need for stronger border security and have tried to shift blame to Harris for the influx of illegal crossings under the Biden administration.
At a news conference Thursday in New York, Trump denounced Harris’ visit to the border, telling reporters “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 this by simply signing a signature and a piece of paper to the Border Patrol.”
Harris will argue, according to a senior campaign official, that Trump was responsible for scuttling a bipartisan border bill it would have imposed permanent asylum restrictions and authorized additional agents and resources at the borders. Trump urged his allies in Congress to reject the bill earlier this year.
“The American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games,” Harris plans to say, according to excerpts previewed by CBS News.
While Harris has pushed for Congress to pass the bill since the campaign trail, Trump on Thursday called the legislation “atrocious.”
“It would allow people to come here at incredible levels and allow them to get citizenship,” Trump told reporters. “It wasn’t a border bill. It was an amnesty bill.”
The measure that failed to garner enough support from Senate Republicans in the spring also included executive authority to turn back migrants during peaks in illegal immigration and would have increased legal immigration levels.
Camilo Montoya-Galvez contributed to this report.
