DOUGLAS, Ariz., Sept 27 (Askume) – Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris announced her nomination on FridayVisiting the U.S.–Mexico border for the first time during the 2024 presidential campaign , he called for tighter asylum restrictions and vowed to make preventing the entry of fentanyl into the United States a “top priority”.
Harris outlined her plans to fix “our broken immigration system” in Douglas, Arizona, a border town with a population of fewer than 17,000 people, while accusing her Republican rival Donald Trump of being “worried” about the impact immigrants have on American life.
Government data shows that nearly 7 million immigrants have been apprehended crossing the border illegally during President Joe Biden’s administration, a record number that has led Trump and his fellow Republicans to criticize Biden and Harris.
Immigration is a top issue for voters. Arizona is a close state, with both parties taking advantage of its large Latino electorate. The country’s porous southern border remains a source of fentanyl, a leading cause of overdoses in the United States .
Harris called for more punitive measures against people crossing the border illegally, which has seen a sharp increase this year and a rapid decline after Biden’s asylum ban on illegal immigrants.
“I will take further action to keep the border closed between ports of entry. People found crossing illegally will be arrested and deported and barred from re-entering for five years,” Harris said.
“We will bring more serious criminal charges against repeat offenders, and if someone crosses our border illegally rather than requesting asylum at a legal point of entry, they will be barred from receiving asylum,” he said.
Harris emphasized the goals of her “humane” immigration plan and said she would work with Congress to create a path to citizenship for “Dreamers” — hundreds of thousands of people who were brought to the United States illegally as children. They have been a Democratic priority for a decade, butOut of the failed immigration bill backed by Biden .
“I reject this false choice that suggests we must either secure our borders or build a safe, orderly and humane immigration system,” Harris said.
In Douglas, Harris spoke to Customs and Border Protection officials and toured a section of the border barrier built during the 2011-2012 administration of Democrat Barack Obama, the White House said.
The campaign said it received an overview from CBP of U.S. anti-drug operations and surveillance techniques used to seize illicit drugs, including fentanyl. Border officers are projected to seize more fentanyl at ports of entry in 2022 and 2023 than in the past five fiscal years combined, the campaign said.
Harris was introduced by Theresa Guerrero, whose 31-year-old son, Jacob Guerrero, died from fentanyl poisoning. She accused Trump of blocking a bipartisan border security bill aimed at stopping the flow of fentanyl. The bill was blocked by the Senate in February after Trump pressured Republicans to reject any deal .
Biden and Harris accused Trump of rolling back measures that made immigration a campaign issue.
Harris said she would revive the legislation, which would add 1,500 Border Patrol agents and other personnel, 4,300 asylum officers, 100 immigration judges and new drug testing technology.
The vice president said she was targeting the “entire global fentanyl supply chain.” She said China has begun cracking down on fentanyl precursor chemicals but more action is needed.
Fentanyl overdose has become the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 45. By 2023, more than 107,000 Americans will die from a drug overdose.
Harris promised to double funding to prosecute international criminal organizations and cartels and to modernize US investigations and investigative infrastructure.
Immigration preferences
Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance have stepped up their criticism of immigration in recent weeks, repeating falsehoods about legal immigration from Haiti to Vance’s home state of Ohio and suggesting that immigrants are committing crimes and robbing American citizens.
On Friday, Trump blamed Harris for the rising trend of irregular immigration.
“The architect of this destruction is Kamala Harris,” Trump said at Trump Tower in Manhattan. “She keeps talking about how she allegedly wants to fix the border. All we have to ask is why didn’t she do it four years ago? It’s a very simple question.”
He also accused Harris of turning America’s small towns into “miserable refugee camps.”
A Askume/Ipsos poll last month found that 43% of voters supported Trump on immigration, 33% backed Harris, and 24% either didn’t know or chose someone else or had no answer.
Harris is a former prosecutor who served as California’s attorney general before being elected to the US Senate and as vice president. Her work in California has included targeting gangs operating on both sides of the border and combating the smuggling of drugs, guns and people.
Biden has tasked Harris with addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, a foreign policy issue where her record is mixed.
Immigration to the United States from Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia has troubled voters, who are concerned about what the trend will do to the American economy, crime rates and culture. The share of foreign-born U.S. residents is expected to grow by nearly a fifth from 2010 to 2023, to 47.8 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
