GLENDALE, Ariz. – Vice-president Kamala Harris made immigration a key component of his stump speech at a packed rally around Phoenix on Thursday after making no mention of the topic during rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin this week.
“We’re going to move forward and tackle the biggest issues facing our nation, like immigration,” Harris told supporters. “I was the chief prosecutor of the border state. I went after transnational gangs, drug cartels and human traffickers. I sued them and I won.”
During the speech, Harris reiterated his support for legislation that would strengthen border security measures and create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. With that, he attacked the former president Donald Trump claiming ineffectiveness on border security, he claims to prioritize electoral politics over substantive reform.
“Donald Trump doesn’t want to solve this problem,” he said. “Earlier this year, we had a chance to pass the toughest bipartisan border security bill in decades, but Donald Trump stopped the deal because he thought that doing so would help him win the election.”
“We know our immigration system is broken and we know what it takes to fix it,” Harris told a crowd his campaign estimated at 15,000 attendees.
Harris encountered Intense immigration scrutiny from the Trump campaign After rising to the top of the Democratic ticket. Republicans have focused on Harris’ role in the Biden administration.
In 2021, he was tasked with addressing the “root causes” of migration to the United States from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. More recently, his GOP critics have painted a broader portrait of Harris’ duties, suggesting he has been tasked with strengthening border security outside of his direct purview.
Since running for president, Harris has addressed immigration during past visits to Sun Belt states. He attacked Trump for blocking the border security bill for a while Rally in Georgia last month, and the Harris-Walz campaign ran ads on the issue ahead of her trips to Georgia and Arizona.
“As president, he will hire thousands more border agents,” a narrator says in the ad was released on Friday with the campaign. “It’s hard to draw boundaries, and neither is Kamala Harris.”
In response to Harris and Walz’s trip to Arizona, Trump’s campaign said in a statement that the vice president should have visited the border town.
“Border czar Kamala Harris’s choice for vice president is as dangerously liberal as she gets,” said Halee Dobbins, director of the Arizona Republican National Committee, who also worked for the Trump campaign. “Instead of stopping in Phoenix, Kamala Harris should go to our southern border and see the consequences of the border bloodbath.”
The focus on immigration comes as both campaigns battle for votes in Arizona. President Joe Biden won the state by nearly 10,000 votes in 2020, and polls suggest the race between Harris and Trump could be just as close. In addition, the Democratic share of the state’s electorate has declined by 3% during the Biden administration. recent voter registration numbers by the Arizona Secretary of State’s office.
Before Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, took the stage Friday night, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly called them in support. A former astronaut and naval aviator, Kelly defended Walz, a fellow veteran. Republican attacks Minnesota’s military record.
“He served with honor in uniform for decades,” Kelly, who is being considered for the role as the vice presidential candidate, said of Walz.
“Tim has brought that experience to everything he’s done since he fought for our military, fought for veterans and fought for military families,” added Kelly, who is joined by his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords.
Republican Ruben Gallego, a longtime Harris ally, spoke in front of Kelly during his previous presidential run, and in the Arizona Senate race this fall, he appeared in front of Kelly to bash Republican challenger Kari Lake and praise her former colleague Walz. House.
“We’ve both served on many committees, but one thing I know about him is that he always puts veterans first,” said Gallego, a Marine veteran who was deployed to Iraq.