Harris visits the border in Arizona and says she will toughen up asylum rules

TUCSON, Ariz. — Vice President Harris is set to propose tighter rules for asylum claims during a speech at the U.S-Mexico border in Douglas, Arizona on Friday, a campaign official told reporters traveling with her.

The proposal would build on executive action taken by President Biden earlier this year that effectively allows the administration to suspend asylum claims when numbers reach certain thresholds, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of Harris’ remarks.

Harris will announce that she would have even tougher emergency authorities, making them harder to lift until numbers drop to significantly low levels.

Harris is using this border trip to try to shore up one of her biggest political liabilities, while hammering her opponent for his role in inflaming tensions over immigration and border security.

Border security is one of Harris' biggest political liabilities

Border security is a top issue for voters in this election, and most polls show that former President Donald Trump has an edge over Harris — although it’s not as big as the one he had over Biden when he was the Democratic candidate. Trump had made cracking down on immigration a signature issue when he was in office, and has revived it for his campaign for another term.

Harris previously has said that if she wins the election, she would try to revive a bipartisan agreement that would have provided more funding to hire more border agents, as well as tighten rules for asylum and expand detention facilities. Harris and Biden have blamed Trump for pressuring his allies in Congress to block the bill.

Biden later took executive action to try to accomplish some of the measures in the bill, though it is being challenged in court. Unlawful