Speaking in Arizona, vice-president seeks to turn one of her biggest vulnerabilities into a political strength<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kamala Harris accused Donald Trump of \u201cplaying political games\u201d on immigration \u2013 his signature issue \u2013 as the vice-president sought to turn one of her biggest vulnerabilities into a political strength during a visit to the US-Mexico border<\/a> on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking in the Arizona<\/a> border town of Douglas, Harris declared the US both a \u201csovereign nation\u201d and a \u201ccountry of immigrants\u201d, and said as president she would strengthen controls at the southern border, while working \u201cto fix our broken system of immigration\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI reject the false choice that suggests we must choose either between securing our border and creating a system that is orderly, safe and humane,\u201d Harris said. \u201cWe can and we must do both.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She hammered Trump for derailing a sweeping bipartisan package that would have overhauled the federal immigration system, while providing additional resources to help hire more border patrol agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt should be in effect today, producing results, in real time right now,\u201d Harris said, speaking on a stage framed by American flags and large blue posters that read \u201cborder security and stability\u201d. \u201cHe prefers to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After that bill collapsed, the Biden administration announced new rules to temporarily halt asylum processing at the US southern border. Since then, arrests for border crossings between ports of entry have plummeted. In July, arrests dipped below<\/a> levels not seen since Trump\u2019s final months in office in 2020, though they ticked up<\/a> slightly in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As president, Harris said, she would take \u201cfurther action to keep the border closed\u201d, including stiffening the punishments for those who cross between ports of entry. She emphasized her support for \u201chumane\u201d and \u201corderly\u201d policies, reminding Arizonans of the measures Trump took to curb illegal immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe separated families, he ripped toddlers out of their mothers\u2019 arms, put children in cages and tried to end protection of Dreamers,\u201d she said in Douglas, a blue dot in the overwhelmingly red Cochise county.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before her remarks, Harris walked a stretch of barrier constructed during the Obama administration. In the sweltering triple-degree heat, she received a briefing from Customs and Border Protection officials on efforts to stop the flow of fentanyl across the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also stopped by the Raul H Castro port of entry in Douglas, across from Agua Prieta, Mexico, which is slated to be expanded and modernized with grants from the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed into law by Joe Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\u2019ve got a tough job and they need, rightly, support to do their job,\u201d Harris said afterward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking to supporters at a manufacturing plant in Walker, Michigan, Trump boasted that Harris was \u201cgetting killed on the border\u201d and blamed the Biden administration\u2019s border policies for fueling high levels of migration during the first three years of his presidency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a crime what she did,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no greater act of disloyalty than to extinguish the sovereignty of your own nation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In her remarks, Harris said she understood the unique challenges and needs facing border communities like the one in Douglas, having served as the attorney general of neighboring California. She recalled touring trafficking tunnels used by smugglers and touted her work prosecuting international gangs and criminal organizations that smuggle guns, drugs and people across the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans would rather discuss her more recent assignment, as vice-president during a period of record migration when she was officially tasked with addressing the root causes of people coming north from Central America. On Friday, Republicans misleadingly accused her of being an absentee \u201cborder tsar\u201d whose policies led to the situation at the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Voters in Arizona consistently rank immigration \u2013 Trump\u2019s signature issue \u2013 as a top concern this election cycle, often second only to the economy. A sizable share of voters trust Trump more on immigration and border security, but Harris\u2019s campaign believes it has made progress softening Democrats\u2019 deficit on an issue seen as one of their biggest electoral vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The campaign has blanketed the airwaves with ads designed to blunt Trump\u2019s attacks over her immigration record. On Friday, it launched a new ad in Arizona and other battleground states highlighting her pledge to hire thousands more border agents and stop fentanyl trafficking and human smuggling. \u201cWe need a leader with a real plan to fix the border,\u201d a voiceover says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Less than six weeks before election day, polls show a tight race in Arizona<\/a>, one of seven battleground states that will likely decide the election and the only one that touches the southern border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n