Vice President Kamala Harris is reportedly planning to visit the southern border in Arizona as immigration remains a key election issue and her campaign seeks to demonstrate a tough stance on border security, but critics say any border visit is nothing more than a “political ploy.”
Multiple media outlets have reported that the Harris campaign is considering a visit to the US-Mexico border on Friday, but details have yet to be determined. The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Any visit to the border by Harris would be her first since a trip to El Paso, Texas, in 2021, when she came under pressure over the escalating crisis on the southern border and her role in overseeing the root causes of migration, which led to her being dubbed the “border secretary.”
Video resurfaces of Harris chanting “end deportations” with disgraced actor at 2018 parade
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks during a Labor Day event at Northwestern High School on September 2, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. (Jeff Kowalski/AFP via Getty Images)
The announcement comes amid a massive migration crisis that has seen records broken under Biden's administration with millions of people flocking to the border each year, and as multiple polls show she is falling far behind former President Trump on the issues of illegal immigration and border security.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 46% of respondents support Trump on immigration, compared with 36% who support Harris.
Republicans have linked the surge to the administration's “open border” policies and the reversal of Trump-era policies, including the wall and the Remain in Mexico policy. The Biden administration has said it needs more funding and reforms from Congress, and has noted that encounters with migrants have plummeted since Biden signed an executive order in June restricting the entry of asylum seekers.
They also point to both Harris' role in an administration that oversaw a massive migration crisis, as well as her past policy positions as a senator and a presidential candidate in 2019. Fox News Digital on Monday reported video of Harris yelling “end deportations” at a 2018 parade.
Harris changes key position on border and illegal immigration, promising 'pragmatic' approach on campaign trail
Harris has also repeatedly called for various forms of amnesty, including expanding amnesty for illegal immigrants. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) She also said she would use her parole authority to create a “parole” program to put illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship. She still supports Congress's creation of a “path to citizenship” for illegal immigrants. She also supported cuts to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
But since becoming a presidential candidate this summer, she Campaign confirmed Trump told Fox News earlier this month that he had changed his position on several immigration and border security policies, including decriminalizing illegal border crossings and closing migrant detention centers.
Republicans have resisted efforts to reframe her position, with Republican Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona dismissing the border visit as a “political ploy.”
“She won't be going in her prime, she'll probably get a photo opportunity where she's totally cleaned up, and my guess is she'll be treated the same as any other animal,” he said. “They'll be cleaning up the desert, cleaning everything up so it looks nice for her, instead of somewhere environmentally bad or dangerous for people passing by.”
“This isn't cynicism or anything. This is just a look at reality, which is that she's going there to make it look like she knows what's going on at the border,” he said.
For more coverage on the border security crisis, click here
Construction of the border wall was abruptly halted under the Biden administration. (Adam Shaw/Fox News Digital)
A Harris campaign adviser told Fox earlier this month that her position was “shaped by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris administration.”
The campaign now says she will “continue to enforce the law, prioritize the detention and deportation of individuals who pose a threat to public safety and national security, and ensure adequate resources to ensure compliance with immigration proceedings and decisions, including deportations.”
She has also repeatedly supported a bipartisan border security bill that would have increased the border patrol budget while also restricting the number of asylum seekers entering the U.S., blasting former President Trump for killing the bill amid conservatives' claims that it would only make the crisis worse. She has also touted her record as a prosecutor targeting members of international criminal organizations.
“As President, I will reinstate bipartisan border security legislation. [Trump] “I will kill this bill and sign it into law. I am confident that we can live up to our proud tradition as a nation of immigrants, reform our broken immigration system, create a path to citizenship, and secure our border,” she said at the Democratic National Convention.
But Republicans and immigration hardliners have opposed Harris' framework, arguing that while it may reduce arrests in the short term, the real solution to the border crisis is a change in strategy.
Fox Digital asked Biggs what he hopes Harris takes away from her visit to the border.
“They can stop this almost immediately by reinstating Title 42, by reinstating the Mexican Permit to Stay. They need to shut down the CBP One app, because in the last 15 months, roughly 815,000 people have entered the country. They need to shut down the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela (CHNV) program. What they can do right now is shut us down almost immediately. And I want her to understand that. But I don't think she will understand that.”
RJ Howman, director of the National Centre for Immigration Enforcement (NICE) and visiting adviser to the Heritage Foundation, also denied the visit, asking: “What is Kamala Harris going to do? Is she going to oversee the installation of ballot drop boxes? Is she going to shake hands with illegal immigrants crossing the border?”
Click here to get the FOX News app
“Her campaign relies on gaslighting the American people into believing that she doesn't believe what she actually believes and that she hasn't done what she actually does. Immigration is a perfect example of that,” he said. “Until she goes door-to-door to apologize to Angel families or returns to Washington to hand her pen to Biden, the American people will not be fooled by this last-minute bargaining nonsense.”
