DOUGLAS, Ariz. — Vice President Harris made her first appearance Friday at the southern border since becoming the Democratic nominee for president, and delivered a speech pledging to crack down on illegal immigration while blasting former President Trump.
“Those who cross our borders unlawfully will be apprehended and removed and barred from reentering for five years,” Harris told an enthusiastic crowd inside the gymnasium of the Cochise County College Douglas Campus located roughly two miles from the southern border.
“We will pursue more severe criminal charges against repeat violators and if someone does not make an asylum request at a legal point of entry and instead crosses our border unlawfully, they will be barred from receiving asylum. While we understand that many people are desperate to migrate to the United States. Our system must be orderly and secure.”
HARRIS VISITS CRUCIAL BORDER STATE AS IMMIGRATION RECORD SPARKS SCRUTINY: A TIMELINE
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Harris greets supporters during a campaign event at Cochise College Douglas Campus in Douglas, Ariz., Friday.
Harris, who touted her record as a border state attorney general, claimed that Trump “tanked” the “strongest border security bill we have seen in decades” earlier this year and argued that if it were law today, it would be producing “results” for the country.
“It is my pledge to you that as President of the United States I will bring it back up and proudly sign it into law,” she said.
Harris also pledged to “understand how solutions get formed” and to “reach across the aisle and I will embrace common sense approaches and new techniques to get the job done.”
“Because I know transnational gangs coming across the border, trafficking in guns, drugs and human beings could[n’t] care less who somebody voted for in the last election,” she said.
Harris added, “I will surge support to law enforcement agencies on the front lines, more personnel, more training and more technology, including 100 new inspection systems that can detect fentanyl hidden in vehicles.”
Fentanyl was a common message in Harris’ speech, which she delivered after being introduced by Theresa Guerrero, whose son, Jacob, was killed by fentanyl poisoning at age 31.
“We will make sure that our ports of entry, including airports and seaports, have additional state-of-the-art technology to detect fentanyl and the chemical tools used to make it,” Harris said. “I will also double the resources for the Department of Justice to extradite and prosecute transnational criminal organizations and the cartels.”
Harris added, “The United States is a sovereign nation, and I believe we have a duty to set rules at our border and to enforce them. And I take that responsibility very seriously. We are also a nation of immigrants. The United States has been enriched by generations of people who have come from every corner of the world to contribute to our country and to become part of the American story.”
MARK CUBAN SPARS WITH RILEY GAINES OVER HARRIS’ HANDLING OF THE BORDER CRISIS
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Harris visits the U.S.-Mexico border with U.S. Border Patrol Tucson Sector Chief John Modlin in Douglas, Ariz., Friday.
