Harris Plans To Borrow Heavily From Trump’s Playbook In Rare Border Visit

Vice President Kamala Harris is set to visit Douglas, Arizona, on Friday, marking her first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. Harris will deliver remarks to call for tougher border security measures as part of her efforts to address border issues, according to a senior campaign official.

Harris plans to say that American sovereignty requires setting rules at the border and enforcing them, stressing that Border Patrol agents need more resources.

The vice president will make combating the flow of fentanyl a focal point of her remarks and refer to it as a “top priority” for her presidency. Harris will propose adding fentanyl detection machines to ports of entry along the border and will call on the Chinese government to crack down on companies that make the precursor chemicals utilized in the making of fentanyl.

While Harris will stress the need for border security and address the lack of current resources, the vice president will also advocate for an immigration system that is “safe, orderly and humane” according to campaign officials granted anonymity to speak freely on the prepared remarks.

As Harris is set to make her case on the border, the Biden administration will soon move to cement the asylum restrictions it enacted at the southern border over the summer, officials told CBS News. The planned amended proclamation would make it less likely for the asylum restrictions to be lifted in the near future, according to two U.S. officials who requested anonymity to discuss internal government plans. Officials have credited the stringent measure for a sharp drop in illegal border crossings in recent months.

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