US Vice-President Kamala Harris made a rare trip to the US-Mexico border on Friday, addressing Republican criticisms of her stance on immigration.
Harris, who last visited the border in 2021, directed sharp comments at former President Donald Trump, accusing him of offering “scapegoating instead of solutions” and “rhetoric instead of results.”
Earlier in the day, Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, claimed Harris was “getting killed” on immigration and supported “the worst bill ever drawn” regarding border security. Polls indicate that more Americans trust Trump over Harris on handling border issues and illegal immigration.
During her visit to Cochise County, a conservative area in Arizona and a hot spot for record-high border crossings last autumn, Harris inspected the border wall and met with local officials. Speaking at a campaign event in Douglas, she argued that Trump “did nothing to fix our broken immigration system” during his presidency and accused Republicans of presenting a “false choice” between security and a humane immigration system.
“We can and must do both,” Harris told supporters, promising to toughen asylum laws passed earlier this year by President Joe Biden and to push for a bipartisan border security bill that Trump had opposed.
However, many local residents remain skeptical. Jim Chilton, a rancher whose land lies near the border, expressed his doubts. “We’ve had an open border policy, and now we’re seeing what that really means,” he said. Chilton, a Trump supporter, has long criticised the Biden administration’s approach, citing the thousands of undocumented migrants who cross his property annually. His concerns echo those of many in conservative border communities.
While Harris’s visit highlighted efforts to enforce border security, she also faced criticism from some Democrats.
Gail Kochorek, a volunteer who provides aid to migrants waiting to cross the border, voiced her disappointment with Harris’s recent promises to crack down on migration. However, Kochorek affirmed her support for Harris over Trump, noting that despite her concerns, she believed in the Democratic nominee’s broader vision for immigration reform.
During a rally in Michigan, Trump downplayed Harris’s visit, calling it a “drop-in” and “photo op.” He reiterated his own plans to complete the border wall and implement the largest mass deportation in US history if re-elected, while dismissing Harris’s proposals as ineffective.
Harris has faced significant challenges on immigration throughout her vice presidency. While she has not been responsible for border policy directly, she was tasked with addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, particularly from countries like Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Her strategy has focused on addressing systemic issues such as poverty, corruption, and violence in the region, but the success of this approach is still uncertain.
As she campaigns for the 2024 election, Harris is leaning on her experience as a prosecutor in California, where she tackled transnational crime and drug cartels. She emphasizes that her administration would balance humanitarian concerns with border security, a message that she hopes will resonate with voters from both sides of the political spectrum.
Yet, convincing the public of her vision remains one of her greatest challenges as the politics of immigration continue to move further to the right.
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