Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent trip to the battleground state of Arizona is being blasted by House Republicans, particularly those representing districts at the heart of the ongoing border crisis, who accuse her of showing up only to gain last-minute votes before the presidential election.
The focus of the backlash is Harris’ campaign stop in Douglas, a small border town in Arizona, coming just six weeks before voters head to the polls. Republicans are condemning her visit as a superficial attempt to project concern over border issues, with critics saying it’s nothing more than a poorly-timed photo opportunity.
“I have been consistent in my willingness to work with anyone – on either side of the aisle – to address the crisis at the border,” said Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., in an interview with Fox News Digital. “However, Vice President Harris’ visit reeks of desperation and appears to be just another effort to gain political points.”
Ciscomani, along with other Republican representatives from border districts, expressed their frustration, accusing Harris of ignoring the situation for most of her time in office. The Biden administration has been widely criticised for the unprecedented surge in illegal border crossings since taking office, a problem Republicans say Harris has neglected, making her unfit for leadership on this critical issue.
Representative Darrell Issa, R-Calif., whose district covers a significant portion of the U.S.-Mexico border, didn’t mince words. He argued that the crisis is a direct result of the administration’s border policies and Harris’ failure to take meaningful action.
“What has come out of this administration’s policies? America’s deadliest drug crisis ever, the increased trafficking of women and girls, and 10 million illegals allowed to enter the country and stay,” Issa blasted. “Kamala owes America an apology for the chaos she has helped create, not a photo op.”
Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Texas, went a step further, accusing Harris of using the visit to distract from her abysmal poll numbers. “It’s no coincidence that this last-minute visit comes as Harris’ popularity plummets in Arizona,” she noted. “Despite the staged photo ops, the reality is [that] under Harris’s watch, we’ve faced a catastrophic border crisis, unlike anything we saw when President Trump secured our border.”
With the 2024 election around the corner, Democrats are suddenly changing their tone on immigration. Harris, in particular, is scrambling to appear tough on border security as she and other left-wing candidates struggle to attract moderate and independent voters who are fed up with the administration’s weak stance on the issue.
The Biden administration is trying to claim credit for a recent drop in illegal crossings between ports of entry, but critics point out that, on an annual basis, Biden’s presidency has been marked by unprecedented numbers of illegal entries, including a record 2.2 million border encounters in 2022 alone. The massive influx of migrants since Biden took office is widely seen as a result of reversing Trump’s stricter border policies.
Harris used her visit as an opportunity to attack former President Trump, attempting to shift blame for the border’s chaos despite having overseen it for almost four years. A senior Harris campaign official indicated that she would advocate for tougher border security measures during her speech, though Republicans see this as too little, too late.
The Harris campaign issued a statement insisting that the Vice President is ready to “deliver real solutions on border security and the fentanyl crisis,” while claiming Trump “did nothing to fix our broken immigration system and killed bipartisan border solutions just to play politics.”
Harris has largely avoided the border since 2021, when she was tasked with addressing the root causes of mass migration. Her lack of engagement earned her the derisive title of “border czar,” a role Republicans say she has completely failed in.
The Trump campaign, meanwhile, dismissed Harris’ latest visit as a desperate attempt to salvage her credibility. “Kamala’s sudden trip to the border and her empty calls for more security just weeks before the election can’t undo nearly four years of chaos, crime, and bloodshed caused by her reckless open border policy,” they stated, underscoring her failure to take meaningful action on the border crisis.
