Sen. Mark Kelly rips Trump over role in killing bipartisan border bill

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., on Wednesday went after former President Donald Trump over his role in sinking a bipartisan Senate bill as the former president seeks to cast Vice President Kamala Harris as a “border czar” who failed to secure the border amid record increases of migrant crossings.

“This was not meeting the Republicans on the 50 yard line, this was meeting them on the 10 yard line,” Kelly said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” referring to the bipartisan border bill that would have imposed tough overhauls on the border, but was killed after Trump pressured GOP lawmakers to vote against it.

“On their side of the field, we realized, we’ve got to get operational control over the border. I realized this, Kamala Harris realizes this, and this legislation was going to do that,” he added. “And our goal here was to get this legislation passed and then start working on comprehensive immigration reform. But this was stopped dead in its tracks by Donald Trump because he wanted to have this as an election issue. Like a lot of other Republicans, they don’t actually want to solve this problem.”

Kelly, who is on the short list to be Harris’ running mate, has been a vocal critic on the Biden administration’s approach to border security, but is now viewed as a potential buffer for Harris against attacks from Trump and his allies on her record on the border and immigration.

Trump has largely focused on immigration in his recent attacks on Harris. The former president has argued that Harris failed to secure the border after President Joe Biden in 2021 tasked her with addressing the influx of migrants from Central American countries to the southern border and the root causes of migration.

Harris has pushed back on Trump’s attacks, citing