PHOENIX (AP) U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris walked along a stretch of fence along Arizona’s border with Mexico on Friday, seeking to project a more forceful image regarding the control of illegal immigration and thus address one of her biggest concerns. vulnerabilities in the face of the November presidential elections.
Harris’ effort to further restrict asylum applications goes beyond President Joe Biden’s policy on an issue where his rival, former Republican President Donald Trump, has an advantage among the electorate. She tried to strike a balance between tough talk about border enforcement and calls to develop a better way to welcome legal immigrants.
“I reject the false alternative that suggests we must choose between ensuring the security of our border and creating a system that is orderly, secure and humane,” Harris said. We can and must do both.
In her first trip to the international border since becoming the Democratic candidate for president of the United States, Harris spoke with Border Patrol agents as they toured a section of the wall built during Barack Obama’s presidency. The temperature in Douglas, Arizona, was near 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) during a conversation that lasted about half an hour.
Harris later attended a closed-door briefing at the Douglas port of entry on efforts to combat drug trafficking and improve the legal flow of goods and people across the border. Border Patrol agents have a difficult job and deserve support to do it, he said.
Harris’ visit was intended to be a response to Trump and his Republican colleagues, who have incessantly criticized her for the Biden administration’s record on immigration enforcement, and blame the vice president for spending little time visiting the border during the time he has been in the White House.
Immigration and border security are major issues in Arizona, the only electoral key state that borders Mexico and one that saw a record influx of asylum seekers last year. Voters favor Trump on immigration, and Harris has gone on the offensive to improve her position on the issue and defuse a key line of political attack by her rival.
She used her remarks to challenge Trump’s own record on immigration during his presidency, saying he did nothing to fix the system for receiving legal immigrants or address an outdated asylum system. And he also denounced that Trump did not solve a shortage of immigration judges and border agents.
Donald Trump sunk him, the vice president declared, so that he could campaign saying that there is disorder at the border.
He prefers to campaign on a problem rather than solve a problem, Harris added. And the American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than about playing political games and his personal political future.
After the immigration bill stalled, the Biden administration announced rules that prohibit granting asylum to immigrants when US authorities consider the southern border to be overwhelmed. Since then, arrests for illegally crossing the border have decreased.
Cooper inform desde Phoenix.
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