Kamala Harris Will Visit US-Mexico Border for First Time as Candidate

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Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the U.S.-Mexico border during a campaign rally in Arizona on Friday, according to the Associated Press, as she seeks to confront an issue that polls show voters trust her opponent to better handle.

Harris has faced repeated calls for her to visit the border, with Republicans blaming her for the rise in illegal border crossings over her tenure as vice president.

Harris last visited the southwest border in 2021, in El Paso, Texas.

Vice President Kamala Harris talks to Gloria Chavez, Chief Patrol Agent of the El Paso Sector, as she tours the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Central Processing Center, June 25, 2021, in El Paso, Texas.... Vice President Kamala Harris talks to Gloria Chavez, Chief Patrol Agent of the El Paso Sector, as she tours the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Central Processing Center, June 25, 2021, in El Paso, Texas. She is due to return to the border, this time in Arizona, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. More AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File The Democratic presidential candidate's main policy on immigration is to bring back the bipartisan border bill, which was halted earlier this year when former President Trump came out against it, seeking to keep the issue in the national spotlight through November.

Harris has trumpeted the plan as a way to increase border security by providing funding for additional border patrol agents, while also increasing legal pathways for immigrants.

Friday's visit will come after a sharp decline in illegal crossings reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), although there was a slight rise in August.

Harris has claimed that CBP backed the bipartisan bill, though former border patrol leaders have openly supported Trump's policies instead.

Taylor Rogers, an RNC spokesperson, told Newsweek that Harris is to blame for the crisis which had played out on the U.S.-Mexico border during President Biden's term in the White House.

"A staged trip to the southern border just weeks before the elections won't fool voters—Americans know Kamala Harris is to blame for the border bloodbath that has allowed criminals and terrorists to unleash violent crime and illegal drugs like fentanyl into our communities," Rogers said.

"The southern border will be secure again, our communities will be safe again, and America will be great again when President Trump is back in the White House."

Newsweek has contacted the Harris campaign for comment.

Earlier this year, NBC polling showed Donald Trump with a staggering 35-point lead over Biden on the issue of immigration. That lead has fallen to 21 points, according to the most recent NBC poll, while Harris leads Trump by 28 points on protecting immigrants' rights.

Meanwhile, polling by Ipsos showed that as border crossings fell, the number of voters selecting immigration as their main issue this November also steadily dropped – from about 20 percent in February to closer to 10 percent in August.

Still, immigration remains a weak point for Harris, polls show. She will make the trip to the border this week while campaigning in the key swing state of Arizona, whose residents are set to vote on a border measure this November.

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