Vice President Kamala Harris has made an aggressive move to chip away at Donald Trump’s lead in immigration polls, traveling to the southern border for the first time as a Democratic candidate on Friday to lay out her plans to resolve what she described as a problem that has been going on for decades.
Harris, during her trip to Arizona, a key swing state, criticized Trump for his role earlier this year in the failure of a border security bill that was the product of months of bipartisan negotiations.
It was one of Harris’ most thematic political speeches since becoming the Democratic candidate, trying to use her past as California’s attorney general to prove that she has what it takes to attack Trump in one of the Republican’s main arguments.
“It was the strongest border security bill we’ve seen in decades. It was endorsed by the Border Patrol union. And it should be in effect today, producing real-time results, right now, for our country,” she said at a rally in Douglas, a city on the US-Mexico border.
“But Donald Trump sank the project. He picked up the phone, called some friends in Congress and said, ‘Stop the bill,’” she said. “He prefers to explore a problem rather than solve it. And the American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than about political games and his personal political future.”
The former president responded to Harris’ trip to the border by amplifying his own rhetoric on immigration. Highlighting violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, Trump told a crowd in Walker, Michigan, that Harris “provoked these horrors.”
“She unleashed these atrocities and there is blood on her hands at a level that probably no one has ever seen in this country,” he said.
Trump also falsely again accused Democrats of allowing people to enter the country illegally because “they want the votes.” Noncitizens cannot vote in US elections – a reality ignored by Trump, who for years lied about widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
The Democratic offensive on immigration and border security is an attempt to reduce one of Trump’s most obvious political advantages. A survey of the CNN conducted by SSRS released this week found that 49% of voters who are likely to care about immigration trust the former president, while 35% trust Harris.
Harris on Friday also laid out proposals to strengthen restrictions that have largely prevented migrants from seeking asylum in the United States. And she said she would seek pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.
“They are Americans in every way. But still, they do not have an earned path to citizenship. And this problem has remained unsolved for decades,” Harris said.
The 2024 race takes a backseat
The battle over immigration and border security comes at a rare time when attention has shifted away from nominees from both parties.
Dozens of people died when Hurricane Helene swept across the southeastern US, causing massive flooding. At the same time, Israel intensified its battle against Hezbollah with an attack on a building in Lebanon that the military said stored missiles.
And vice presidential nominees from both parties are preparing to take center stage next week when Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance meet for their first and only debate on Tuesday ( 1) at night.
With less than six weeks until Election Day, the 2024 presidential map is still blurred — with seven swing states coming into focus.
A new survey by CNN conducted by SSRS on Friday (27) showed Harris with a comfortable lead for a single electoral college vote in Nebraska, which could have outsized implications.
Nebraska awards one electoral college vote to the winner of each congressional district. The Omaha-based 2nd District poll found Harris leading in the state’s most liberal region, with 53% support to Trump’s 42%.
That single electoral vote could be critical if Harris sweeps the “blue wall” of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin but loses the four Sun Belt swing states – Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina. That could leave her with 269 electoral college votes — and one more from Nebraska could give her the 270 needed to win the White House.
Another survey by CNN conducted by SSRS released on Friday revealed that the two candidates tied in North Carolina with 48% each. Trump faces limited paths to victory if he fails to control North Carolina – the state where he had the smallest margin of victory in 2020. And the Trump poll CNN revealed that scandal-plagued Republican candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, trails far behind his Democratic rival, as the party faces questions about whether Robinson could steal the GOP’s general ticket in November.
Republican Party highlights immigrant crime
The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee on Friday held a news conference ahead of Harris’ visit to Arizona, featuring three mothers of people killed by undocumented immigrants or accidental fentanyl overdoses, who blamed the vice president for what they described. such as lack of responsibility in border security.
“This is not a safe time for Americans. Kamala Harris did not acknowledge my daughter’s death,” said Patty Morin, mother of Rachel Morin, who was raped and killed by a 23-year-old Salvadoran man. Rachel Morin was also a mother of five children.
“She is coming into this matter too late. At any time, she could have done something,” said Southern California mother Anne Fundner, whose 15-year-old son Weston died of a fentanyl overdose.
The call was an attempt to cast doubt on Harris’ proposals to address border security, as Trump argues that she and President Joe Biden had four years to do so and failed.
After a dramatic drop, border crossings are currently at their lowest level since 2020. U.S. officials touted consecutive months of low border crossings, citing recent executive actions to restrict access to asylum at the southern border.
Republicans have labeled Harris the Biden administration’s “border czar,” overstating the task handed to Kamala Harris in 2021 to address the structural causes of migration in Central America.
Harris on Friday sought to explore another part of her resume: her time as California’s attorney general. She highlighted efforts to prosecute members of transnational criminal organizations, including trips to Mexico City with other attorneys general to share information about gangs and cartels.
“Stopping transnational criminal organizations and strengthening our border is nothing new to me and has been a long-time priority of mine,” she said. “I have done this work and will continue to treat it as a priority.”
This content was originally published in Kamala tries to turn the tide against Trump by focusing on immigration on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
