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Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to visit the United States-Mexico border for the first time in three years on Friday (September 27), ABC News reports.
Harris, 59, the Democratic candidate in the 2024 presidential election, is expected to call for tougher security measures and attack her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, while addressing immigration, an issue that has been one of the biggest obstacles of her campaign, a senior campaign official announced. The vice president plans to speak in Douglas, Arizona, a border town located in a key battleground state, while criticizing Trump for his role in tanking months long negotiations for a bipartisan border bill earlier this year.
"The American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games," Harris reportedly plans to say during her speech, according to a senior official who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity.
The vice president is also expected to take a strong stance in border security during her remarks, which will include saying, "American sovereignty requires setting rules at the border and enforcing them," according to the senior official.
Harris is also reportedly expected to meet with border patrol agents and acknowledge the pay raises they received from the Biden administration, noting they "need more resources to do their jobs to keep America safe" during the visit. A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll showed that 70% of American voters viewed immigration and securing the southern border as "important," while Harris trailed Trump by 10 points among respondents asked who they believed was best suited to handle it.
President Joe Biden tasked Harris with pinpointing the cause of migration surges, which has led to Trump and other Republicans labeling her as the "border czar," though her task involved U.S. policy at the border itself. Harris last visited the border in June 2021, just months after Biden's inauguration.