GLENDALE, Arizona — Less than 200 miles from the southern border, Vice President Kamala Harris promised to fight for “strong border security,” going after Donald Trump for killing immigration legislation that would have curtailed asylum and promising to sign such a bill into law if elected.
“I was attorney general of a border state. I went after the transnational gangs, the drug cartels and the human traffickers,” Harris said in her first remarks about immigration and border security since President Joe Biden left the race nearly three weeks ago. “I prosecuted them in case after case and I won, so I know what I’m talking about.”
Speaking in front of a crowd of more than 15,000 supporters at the Desert Diamond Arena, Harris blamed Trump for the failure of Congress to pass a bipartisan border deal earlier this year: “He talks a big game about border security but he does not walk the walk,” Harris said to a raucous Sun Belt crowd.
“We know our immigration system is broken and we know what it takes to fix it: comprehensive reform. That includes strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship,” Harris said.
The remarks are part of an aggressive effort by the Harris campaign to flip the issue of immigration and border security, long a political liability for Democrats and the vice president in particular. Polls show Americans believe Republicans are more effective on the issue, a perception the GOP has worked to reinforce in recent weeks by condemning Harris’ efforts on the subject as vice president.
Republican ads have sought to tie Harris to record migrant surges earlier in the Biden administration, calling her Biden’s “border czar,” though her remit as vice president was narrower — root causes of migration from three Central American countries.
Democrats have typically shied away from the issue, but Harris’s camp has suggested a more aggressive posture, framing her as tough on the border throughout her career. Harris’s remarks Friday were similar to a new campaign ad up on TV earlier in the morning that pushed a tough-on-immigration message.
“As vice president, she backed the toughest border control bill in decades. And as president, she will hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking. Fixing the border is tough. So is Kamala Harris,” a voice read over videos of Harris’ political career.
Josh Ulibarri, an Arizona-based Democratic pollster, said the message was “smart, strategic, aggressive and … well-aligned with what the swingier Arizona audiences need and want to hear from Democrats at this time” — particularly Hispanic men and white suburban women in this border state, he said.
“We need to neutralize the [immigration] issue, so we can give clarity to voters on abortion, on economic conversation and the risks Trump presents.”
Earlier this year, when Biden still led the ticket, Democrats tried to move to the center on the issue — leaning heavily on the failed bipartisan border security effort in the Senate. But it was not obvious that Harris — who adopted much more progressive stances on immigration as a senator and a presidential candidate in 2019 – would follow suit.
Notably, Harris joined other 2020 Democratic hopefuls in suggesting that entering the country without authorization should not be a criminal offense.
Now, the Harris campaign says her position is “the same as the administration’s — unauthorized border crossings are illegal.” The change in that policy and others “have been shaped by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris Administration,” said a Harris campaign adviser granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Harris campaign officials view this as repair from years of lack of Democratic engagement on the issue that’s allowed Republicans to paint the party as weak and ineffective. Border politics are unlikely to become a central theme of the Harris campaign, but one Democratic strategist granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations told POLITICO that voters need to see “that we’re reasonable and have a plan.”
Another Harris campaign official, this one in the Arizona team, said that being “proactive on communicating the issue, making sure voters know that you know this is an issue and that you’re serious about solving the problem is huge. And laying that down proactively in the first two to three weeks of her campaign, is a huge, huge step.”
A broader immigration policy platform is still being worked out, campaign officials said, as she seeks to distinguish herself without distancing herself too much from the administration she still works in.
Notably on Friday, Harris declared her support for “comprehensive reform that includes strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship” — referencing a policy compromise that was at the heart of every past immigration negotiation over the past two decades until the recent Senate talks.
That is a nod to immigration advocates who have been dismayed at Biden’s willingness to pursue border security measures without dealing also with the status of undocumented immigrants already in the country.
“Republicans are never going to let immigration go as an issue. Having a response, having a plan, having a rebuttal, Harris is doing that and we will continue to need to do that,” said Melissa Morales, president of Somos Votantes. “It’s important to address border security, but where we see it work best is to pair it with a pathway to citizenship. It’s how our community actually responds to it best, when those things are paired.”
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