Vice President Harris is reportedly planning to visit the southern border in Arizona as immigration remains a key election issue and her campaign seeks to demonstrate a tough stance on border security, but critics say the border visit is simply a “political ploy.”
Multiple media outlets have reported that the Harris campaign is considering a visit to the US-Mexico border on Friday, but details have yet to be determined. The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
If Harris visits the border, it will be her first visit since a trip to El Paso, Texas, in 2021, when she was dubbed “border secretary” after coming under pressure over the growing crisis on the southern border and her role in overseeing the root causes of migration.
Video resurfaces of Harris chanting “end deportations” with disgraced actor at 2018 parade
The announcement comes as multiple polls show her far behind former President Trump on the issues of illegal immigration and border security, following a record-breaking migration crisis under Biden with millions of people flocking to the border each year.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 46% of respondents support Trump on immigration, compared with 36% who support Harris.
Republicans have linked the surge in migrants to the administration’s “open border” policies and the reversal of Trump-era policies, including the wall and the “Remain in Mexico” policy. The Biden administration has said it needs more funding and reforms from Congress, and has noted a sharp decline in migrant encounters since Biden signed an executive order in June restricting the entry of asylum seekers.
They also point to both Harris’ role in an administration that oversaw a massive migration crisis, as well as her past policy positions as a senator and a presidential candidate in 2019. Fox News Digital on Monday reported video of Harris yelling “end deportations” at a 2018 parade.
Harris changes key position on border and illegal immigration, promising ‘pragmatic’ approach on campaign trail
Harris has also repeatedly called for various forms of amnesty for illegal immigrants, including expanding Deferred Action for Young People to Combat Arrivals through executive order. She has also said she would use her parole authority to create a “parole-on-parole” program to put illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship. She still supports Congress creating a “path to citizenship” for illegal immigrants. She has also supported cuts to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
But since becoming a presidential candidate this summer, her campaign confirmed to Fox this month that her positions have changed on a number of immigration and border security policies, including decriminalizing illegal border crossings and closing immigrant detention centers.
Republicans have resisted efforts to reframe her position, with Republican Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona dismissing the border visit as a “political ploy.”
“She won’t go when the desert is at its peak, she’ll probably get a photo opportunity where she’s totally cleaned up, and my guess is she’ll get the same treatment as the other animals,” he said. “They’ll clean up the desert, they’ll clean everything up so it looks nice for her, instead of somewhere environmentally bad or dangerous for people who are going through it.”
“This isn’t cynicism or anything. This is just a look at reality, which is that she’s going there to make it look like she knows what’s going on at the border,” he said.
For more coverage on the border security crisis, click here
A Harris campaign adviser told Fox earlier this month that her position was “shaped by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris administration.”
The campaign now says she will “continue to enforce the law, prioritize the detention and deportation of individuals who pose a threat to public safety and national security, and ensure sufficient resources to ensure compliance with immigration proceedings and decisions, including deportations.”
She has also repeatedly supported a bipartisan border security bill that would increase the border patrol budget while also restricting the number of asylum seekers entering the U.S., and has blasted President Trump for killing the bill amid conservatives’ claims that it would only make the crisis worse. She has also touted her background as a prosecutor targeting members of international criminal organizations.
“As president, I will restore the bipartisan border security bill that was killed and sign it into law. I am confident we can uphold our proud tradition as a nation of immigrants, reform our broken immigration system, create a path to citizenship, and secure our border,” she said at the Democratic National Convention.
But Republicans and immigration hardliners have opposed Harris’ framework, arguing that while it may reduce arrests in the short term, the real solution to the border crisis is a change in strategy.
Fox Digital asked Biggs what he hopes Harris takes away from her visit to the border.
“They can stop this almost immediately if they reinstate Title 42, reinstate the right to remain in Mexico. They need to shut down the CBP One app, because in the last 15 months, roughly 815,000 people have entered. They need to shut down the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela (CHNV) program. What they can do now is shut us down almost immediately. And I want her to understand that. But I don’t think she will understand that.”
RJ Howman, director of the National Centre for Immigration Enforcement (NICE), also denied the visit, asking: “What exactly is Kamala Harris going to do? Oversee the installation of ballot drop boxes? Shake hands with illegal immigrants crossing the border?”
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“Her campaign is based on gaslighting the American people into thinking she doesn’t believe what she actually believes and hasn’t done what she actually has done, with immigration being a prime example,” he said. “Until she goes door-to-door to apologize to Angel families or returns to Washington to hand her pen to Biden, the American people will not be fooled by this last-minute bargain nonsense.”