Follow the latest updates on Trump, Harris, and the 2024 election.
Republicans have been harshly attacking Vice President Kamala Harris over the southern border for months, following years of headlines about migrants overwhelming public services as immigration surges under the Biden administration. Ta.
On Friday, Ms. Harris will make stops along the 2,000-mile border in Arizona’s political battlegrounds to confront directly the issues that polls show remain major weaknesses for her. It will be her first trip to the border as a presidential candidate and first since 2021, when she was given a diplomatic mission to address the root causes of migration from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Political risks draw attention to the border. Former President Donald J. Trump and his Republican allies have disparaged and mischaracterized Ms. Harris’ record on immigration. As vice president, she sometimes had no favors for her on the issue, with even members of her own party denouncing her early efforts as clumsy. What drew particular criticism was that in an interview three years ago, when asked why he had not yet traveled to the border, he answered, “I’ve never been to Europe.”
Now, Friday’s visit allows her to neutralize her own vulnerabilities on immigration and contrast with Trump in both policy and tone, taking a tougher stance than other Democratic presidential candidates on border security. This may provide an opportunity to emphasize that In a few decades.
“For a long time, Democrats didn’t want to address the issues that they were being attacked for,” said Chuck Rocha, a Democratic strategist who focuses on voting with Latino voters. “So it’s a great strategy for her to go out and say, ‘No, we can be a nation of immigrants and also a nation of laws.'”
Harris’ message is an attempt to balance a tougher stance on the border with the party’s long-standing promise to expand legal paths to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Her campaign claims it is meeting most Americans where they are, especially swing voters and independent voters.
And she seems to believe she has found a way to counter Trump’s criticism of her. It accuses Trump of helping to defeat a bipartisan agreement in Congress this year that would have significantly narrowed the path to asylum and provided funding for more immigration agents and technicians. There is. Discover drug smugglers at the border.
On Friday, Ms. Harris will give a speech at the border in Douglas, Arizona, where she will accuse Mr. Trump of playing politics with immigration and reaffirm her commitment to signing the border bill. He is also likely to note that border crossings have dropped significantly since President Biden signed an executive order banning migrants from seeking asylum during a surge in border crossings in June. is high.
At a news conference in New York on Thursday, Trump questioned the political strategy of her visit and attacked her handling of border issues.
“Why would she now go to the border and play in the hands of an opponent?” he asked, adding: “She keeps talking about how she wants to fix the border. We simply asked, ‘Why didn’t she do that four years ago?’ ”
If Ms. Harris had had a different political climate or had a different intuition, Mr. Trump and his allies would have traveled to Springfield, Ohio, where immigrants were falsely accused of stealing and eating neighbors’ cats and cats. He may have chosen to make a point about immigration. Attacks on dogs, leading to bomb threats against schools and government buildings. Instead, she will stand at a border that is less chaotic than a year ago and flooded with desperate migrants in a critical swing state where the issue is a top priority for many voters.
Voters are generally less favorable toward immigrants. In a July Gallup poll, 55% of Americans said they wanted fewer immigrants to the United States, up from 41% a year earlier. And many believe Trump is better than Harris on border issues. A recent poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College in three Sunbelt states, including Arizona, found that 54% of likely voters said they had more confidence in Trump on immigration, compared to Harris. Mr. was 43%.
Several residents in Hispanic neighborhoods in Phoenix said in interviews this week that they support increased border security and are concerned about crime and gun violence in their communities.
Jose Nuñez, 22, said he is leaning toward voting for Trump, but also appreciates Harris’ tone on the border.
“As long as they’re keeping the country safe,” he said.
While Harris tackled immigration policy head-on, Trump stepped up his attacks on immigrants, promising tougher policies than in his first term. She has called for mass deportations and concentration camps, positions that Harris has criticized as inhumane. A bipartisan analysis found that Trump’s pledge to deport millions of illegal immigrants could lead to lower economic growth and increase inflation.
Even some progressives who are unhappy with Harris’ handling of the border issue are supporting her, reasoning that if she were president, there would at least be room for negotiation.
This month, more than 80 immigrant rights groups sent a letter to Biden and Harris opposing the Senate’s revival of the border security bill that Trump helped sink. The groups said the proposal would cause “irreparable damage” to the country’s asylum system, lead to an increase in deaths at the border and cause the number of detentions and deportations to skyrocket.
“We will not allow our elected leaders to treat immigrants, whether they are newly arrived or have been here for decades, as political pawns,” the letter said. are.
The effort was led by United We Dream, the largest immigrant rights organization led by young activists. But the group’s political wing, United We Dream Action, endorsed Harris a few days later.
Bruna Bouhid-Sorod, senior political director for United We Dream Action, said the group discussed the threat a second Trump term poses to immigration, environmental protection, LGBTQ and reproductive rights. As a result, he said he made this decision.
“We know they’re not superheroes and we know they’re not perfect candidates,” Bouhid Sorod said of Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Harris was a fierce critic of Trump’s immigration policies when she was a senator. When she ran for president in 2019, she highlighted the plight of undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers, who were brought to the United States illegally as children.
This time, she is emphasizing her support for bipartisan legislation. She cut back on television ads promoting her work prosecuting drug cartels and human smugglers as California’s attorney general, including new spots unveiled Friday in Arizona and other battleground states. And she highlighted support from border city mayors.
At the same time, he said he wanted to encourage immigration and help those already in the United States, although he did not provide policy details.
“We must also reform our broken immigration system and protect Dreamers. We must understand that we can do both: earn a path to citizenship and secure our borders. ” Harris said this month at a meeting of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. “We can and must do both.”
Some voters said they appreciated the centrist position she occupied. June Benally, 64, of Glendale, Arizona, said border security is her biggest concern, but she found Trump’s approach “totally heartless.”
Still, Harris’ words disappointed some progressives.
Erika Andiola, a longtime immigrant rights activist in Arizona, said that while political debates about immigration tend to focus on “who is the culprit,” Harris is more vocal in her defense of immigrants. He said he was looking forward to becoming a member.
“What I’ve been trying to tell the Harris campaign is, yes, part of it is making sure they win,” Andiola said. “But they also have a responsibility to help us change the narrative around immigrant communities.”
Julian Iribe, a 25-year-old Phoenix voter, said he wanted Harris to take a “more lenient” stance toward immigrants.
“My father is an immigrant,” Iribe said. “Do you want to go here in search of a better life?” Good luck. “
Hearing tough talk from Harris on the border makes them less likely to vote for her in November and more likely to consider voting for Trump despite the former president’s tougher message. he said.
“It seems to be the same thing either way,” Iribe said.
Ruth Igielnik and Michael Gold contributed reporting.
