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Former President Donald Trump speaks at the U.S.-Mexico border on Aug. 22, 2024 south of Sierra Vista, Ariz.
“Stopping transnational criminal organizations and strengthening our border is not new to me, and it is a long standing priority of mine. I have done that work, and I will continue to treat it as a priority when I am elected president of the United States,” Harris said.
Trump says Harris should have done more during Biden’s term
Harris last visited the border in 2021, when she went to El Paso, Texas. This time, she chose a critical swing state for her trip. Trump narrowly lost Arizona in 2020 and has been working hard to win it back. Polls show it is a very tight race.
In a speech in New York before Harris’ trip, Trump attacked Harris for not doing more to address border security as vice president, calling her a “border czar” responsible for the surges in migration during Biden’s term.
The “border czar” moniker refers to an assignment Biden gave to Harris early on in her time as vice president to work with Central American leaders on economic and societal issues that were driving tens of thousands of people to try to seek asylum in the United States.
Harris has said her work on the root causes of migration got results. But she did not highlight it in her speech on Friday, and has not talked about it on the campaign trail.
Harris also talked about immigration laws and regulations
Harris said she would take more steps to address asylum rules — and penalties for people who don’t follow them.
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Vice President Harris walks on stage at Cochise College in Douglas, Ariz., on Sept. 27.
“If someone does not make an asylum request at a legal point of entry and instead crosses our border unlawfully, they will be barred from receiving asylum,” she said. “While we understand that many people are desperate to migrate to the United States, our system must be orderly and secure, and that is my goal.”
Biden earlier this year took executive action to try to accomplish some of the measures in the failed border security bill. Unlawful border crossings have since dropped by more than 50%, the White House said, and are currently at their lowest level in four years.
Under Biden’s policy, asylum claim processing is suspended when the seven-day average of unauthorized crossings exceeds 2,500. That suspension stays in place until the seven-day average drops to 1,500 per day for at least two weeks.
But Harris would propose rules that would see that 1,500-per-day bar drop lower still, a campaign official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of Harris’ remarks. Harris did not get into details about that proposal during her speech.
She said she would work toward pathways to citizenship for “hard-working immigrants who have been here for years,” including people brought to America as children by their parents, and farm workers.
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Publish date : 2024-09-27 15:04:00
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