The border crisis that has exploded under the Biden-Harris administration could be an Achilles heel that prevents Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris from taking the White House, former Gov. David Paterson warned Sunday.
“She has one big problem: 72% of Americans believe more people will be crossing the southern border in the future. [under her]”Only 21% feel it would decrease if she were president.” The former Democratic New York politician said:He cited the poll in an interview on 770 WABC’s “The Cats Roundtable.”
“Donald Trump only needs to talk about the border in this arena, and if he doesn’t talk about anything else, if he talks a little bit about the economy, he can win this election,” Paterson told host John Catsimatidis.
Democratic Vice President Harris promised last week that she would “hire thousands more” Border Patrol agents if elected, but critics say she has allowed the migration crisis to explode under her watch and cut the Border Patrol by thousands.
The Harris campaign also released a new 30-second ad claiming that the Democratic presidential nominee “supported the toughest border control bill in decades” as President Biden’s “border” vice president.
“And as president, she’ll hire thousands more Border Patrol agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking,” the ad says. “Fixing the border is hard. And so is Kamala Harris.”
But some Border Patrol sources say Harris is all talk.
“Morale at the Border Patrol is at an all-time low, but for her to act as if she’s in favor of border security under the Biden-Harris administration and current ads is like rubbing salt into an already huge wound of Border Patrol agent and law enforcement morale,” Chris Klemm, a former captain of the Yuma Border Patrol, told The Washington Post last week in exasperation.
Paterson said he believes Harris will ultimately win the election against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
But he said it was a mistake for Harris and Democrats to focus too much on abortion at the expense of border chaos and the economy.
“This is not a choice issue. This is not a minimum wage issue. … This is a border issue and to some extent an economic issue,” Patterson said.
During her acceptance speech in Chicago last week, Harris said she would sign a comprehensive border security bill that Republicans have blocked.
Biden, 81, who gave up on reelection due to pressure from party leaders, had issued executive orders to crack down on illegal border crossings, but federal documents show his administration allowed 100,000 migrants into the country in June.
