Vice President Kamala Harris, who has managed an extraordinary increase in illegal immigration during her tenure, attempted to portray herself as a tough advocate for border security on Friday during her visit to the southern border.
This marked her first trip there since receiving the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
In her Arizona speech, Harris framed herself as stringent on immigration.
“The United States is a sovereign nation, and I believe we have a duty to set rules at our border and to enforce them,” Harris said. “And I take that responsibility very seriously.”
Harris continued, stating that America is “a nation of immigrants,” and emphasized the need for reforms in the immigration system to ensure it operates effectively and “makes our country stronger.”
Kamala: "President Trump's wall is a racist vanity project."
Kamala Harris after looking at her poll numbers on border security: pic.twitter.com/3cLJpdk6oO
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) September 27, 2024
Despite her recent efforts to project a tough stance on illegal immigration, Harris has overseen an unprecedented influx of illegal immigrants into the United States during her vice presidency.
As The Daily Wire reported, over 10 million individuals have crossed the border under the Biden-Harris administration, with approximately 1.7 million illegal immigrant gotaways recorded since President Joe Biden took office in 2021. In contrast, the years 2018, 2019, and 2020 during President Donald Trump’s administration saw a total of 415,000 reported gotaways.
Harris also visited Trump’s border wall, which she referred to in 2019 as a “medieval vanity project.” In 2020, she described the border wall as a “waste of taxpayer money and won’t make us any safer.”
Harris stated that she supports the recent border security bill. The bill, a contentious plan, fierce criticism from many Republicans leading to it’s collapse. According to The Heritage Foundation, this bill would codify “crisis levels of daily illegal immigration” and complicate the ability of a future president to address the issue.
“On behalf of all, across our nation, who want to see these problems solved, I say, we cannot accept Donald Trump’s failure to lead, we should not permit scapegoating instead of solutions … or rhetoric instead of results.”
Despite assurances to take a firm stance on illegal immigration, the Biden-Harris administration reversed numerous Trump administration policies that limited immigration into the United States, including the Remain in Mexico policy, Title 42, and Proclamation 9844, among others.
