WASHINGTON — Three months after becoming a senator in 2021, Mark Kelly Had a bone to pick with the Biden-Harris administration.
President Joe Biden had just delivered his first address to Congress, and Kelly, D-Ariz., accused him of failing to address the “urgent crisis at the border” and vowed to “continue to hold this administration accountable.” At the time, the White House shied away from calling it a crisis, siding with activists on the left who believed the word would work. anti-immigration GOP rhetoric.
As long as he is A Biden ally on most issues, Kelly has remained a vocal critic of border security. He went after the White House for underfunding Arizona’s migrant programs and urged the administration not to change a Trump-era policy known as Title 42 that makes it easier to turn migrants away at the U.S. border. When the White House repeals the policy in 2022 anyway, Kelly called for a decision “wrong” and “unacceptable” in the statement.
Two years later, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris recalibrated executive actions last month fight against migration. Kelly is on the short list to be Harris’ running mate after Biden dropped his re-election bid.
“We have worked together on this in a very positive way. There have been disagreements at times,” Kelly told NBC News, praising “the administration’s recent actions and the results we’ve seen from them.” to put down border crossings.
“The executive action that the president and the vice president took was a very positive thing,” Kelly said.
“Legitimate Confidence in Border Security”
Kelly’s stature as a senator from a border state who held unusual positions before becoming a household name in the party has led some Harris allies to see him as an ideal candidate who could help neutralize what he might become. the biggest political weakness. Former President Donald Trump addressed immigration at the heart of her case against him. Unlike other VP candidates like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Kelly is the only serious front-runner in a state along the southern border.
“Mark Kelly is the only candidate who has done exactly what [Harris] need to do. He must have a legitimate border security credential. … Kelly is solving it and increasing the share of the Latino vote,” said Mike Madrid, a former GOP operative who opposed Trump. “He can personalize it because he lives in a border state.”
There is legitimacy in saying, “Yes, the border is out of control, but it also needs to be protected.” You can do both without being a racist or a bad person.’ And that’s what he does very gracefully,” Madrid said.
Even some immigration advocates see Kelly as a solid choice, citing his support for legal paths to citizenship and his ability to stop Republican attacks on Harris at the border.
“You. Kelly has a proven track record and knowledge in border security, and she also supports citizenship for Dreamers and long-term residents. His experience will help insulate the Harris administration from Republican immigration attacks,” said Kerry Talbot, a former Senate Democratic adviser and executive director of the advocacy group Immigration Hub.
Some Republicans say electing Kelly won’t solve Harris’ problems.
“Smoke and mirrors,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is trying to become the next GOP leader in the Senate.
The party’s campaign chairman, R-Mont. Senator Steve Daines said Democrats were “all complicit” in the border policy failures.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., co-sponsored the border security bill that Trump successfully signed into law. He pushed Republicans to killsaid she and another Arizona senator, independent Kyrsten Sinema, worked more closely with Kelly on the issue.
“Donald Trump wanted it for the election”
But other Republicans who have worked on immigration and asylum policy say Kelly has better instincts on the issue than Harris, who is still finding his footing on the issue as a presidential candidate.
“It’s too late for Biden and Harris on the border. This is one area where he has credibility,” said RN.C. Sen. Tom Tillis said of Kelly. “The reason why he speaks openly is because he is a senator from a border state and he saw it with his own eyes. … I believe he has better instincts.”
Now, Kelly is at odds with Harris on how to respond to Trump’s attacks on border policy: Attack him for blocking efforts to fix the problem, and then use him as a political weapon. At a rally Tuesday in Atlanta, Harris He went after Trump “Donald Trump doesn’t care about border security,” he told the crowd for sinking the bill. He only thinks about himself.”
Speaking to NBC News, Kelly cited a bipartisan bill that would raise the bar for asylum and close the border when migration patterns warrant it.
“We have comprehensive border security legislation, bilateral issues, something that doesn’t happen very often on this issue. This is quite rare. And then Donald Trump wanted it for the election. That is, my Republican colleagues ran away from him“, – Kelly said. “This is one of the worst things I’ve seen since I’ve been in the United States Senate.”