(NewsNation) — Vice President Kamala Harris pledged to revive the bipartisan border bill “and proudly sign it into law” if elected president.
Speaking in Douglas, Arizona, after visiting the border, Harris recited a long list of border and immigration-related promises, touted her record on those issues as attorney general of California and balanced tough talk on policing the border with calls for a better way to welcome immigrants legally.
“I reject the false choice that suggests we must choose either between securing our border and creating a system that is orderly, safe and humane,” Harris said. “We can and we must do both.”
Harris blasted former President Donald Trump for killing the bipartisan bill that she said “should be in effect today producing results in real time right now for our country.”
She also jabbed Trump for his immigration record as president.
“He did nothing to fix our broken immigration system. He did not solve the shortage of immigration judges. He did not solve the shortage of border agents. He did not create lawful pathways into our nation. He did nothing to address an outdated asylum system. He made the challenges at the border worse,” she said.
Harris called Trump’s immigration record an “abdication” of leadership.
“We cannot accept Donald Trump’s failure to lead,” she added.
Harris’ campaign speech came after she and local Border Patrol leaders walked along a rust-colored stretch of wall built during Barack Obama’s presidency. Temperatures in Douglas, Arizona, neared 100 degrees during a conversation that lasted about half an hour.
Later, Harris received a closed-door briefing at the Douglas port of entry on efforts to combat drug trafficking and improve the legal flow of goods and people across the border. Border Patrol agents have “a tough job” and deserve support to do it, she said.
Immigration and border security are top issues in Arizona, the only battleground state that borders Mexico and one that contended with a record influx of asylum-seekers last year. Voters favor Trump on migration, and Harris has gone on offense to improve her standing on the issue and defuse a key line of political attack for her opponent.
“The frustration comes for 3 1/2 years of seeing tragedy after tragedy, and when you have the White House and 51% of Congress that has intellectually turned its back on us,” Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels, a Republican, told NewsNation. “That’s frustrating to me.”
Immigration lawyer Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, however, says Harris is seeking compromise through her actions.
“She does care about border security, but she’s open to a resolution that involves all sides of the government, which would finally bring some stability to the border,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said.
Douglas is an overwhelmingly Democratic border town in GOP-dominated Cochise County, where the Republicans on the board of supervisors are facing criminal charges for refusing to certify the 2022 election results. Trump was in the area last month, using a remote stretch of border wall and a pile of steel beams to draw a contrast between himself and Harris on border security.
On Thursday, Trump spoke in New York giving his opinion on Harris’ visit, which at that point hadn’t yet happened.
“Anything she says tomorrow, you know is a fraud because she was the worst in history at protecting our country. So, she’ll try and make herself look a little bit better. But it’s not possible,” he said.
Election Day is less than six weeks away, and Arizona is a key battleground state with the potential to swing the election for either Harris or Trump.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
