Harris Tries To Blunt Trump’s Strongest Issue Against Her With Visit To Southern Border

Vice President Kamala Harris worked to turn the tables on border security, Donald Trump’s strongest issue against her in the coming presidential election, promising Friday to take a harder line on those who cross the border illegally and accusing the former president of deliberately sabotaging legislation that would have helped solve the problem.

“It was the strongest border security bill that we have seen in decades. And it should be in effect today,” the Democratic presidential nominee said in a 24-minute speech near a port of entry in southern Arizona. “But Donald Trump tanked it…. He prefers to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.”

Harris said she would continue President Joe Biden’s new policy that has dramatically cut illegal border crossings by ending asylum requests for those who did not come into the country at an authorized port of entry once such crossings exceeded 2,500 per day over seven straight days. And she said she would increase criminal penalties on repeat offenders.

“I believe we have a duty to set rules at our border and to enforce them,” she said.

Harris was introduced by a mother who lost a son to a fentanyl overdose, and she spent several minutes discussing the “scourge” of that drug’s effects on Americans. She reminded her audience that as a two-term attorney general of California, she prosecuted Mexican smuggling gangs.

“I walked through tunnels that traffickers used to smuggle contraband into the United States,” she said. “I’ve seen tunnels with walls as smooth as the walls of our living room, complete with lighting and air conditioning, making very clear that it is about an enterprise that is making a whole lot of money in the trafficking of guns, drugs and human beings.”

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