Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has vowed to impose tougher security measures at the border and fix America's broken immigration system, as she sought to counter frequent political attacks on the issue from her Republican rival Donald Trump ahead of the November election.
Vice President Harris' comments came during her visit to the US-Mexico border in Douglas, Arizona, on Friday.
Despite taking a hardline stance on border security, Harris said she also supports a "pathway to citizenship" for undocumented migrants currently in the US.
"As President, I will work with Congress to create, at long last, a pathway to citizenship for hardworking immigrants who have been here for years," Harris said.
Harris was in Arizona to get a first-hand assessment of the security situation at the southern borders.
Slamming former President Trump, she said politicians have refused to come together and fix the broken immigration system.
Illegal immigration is an issue that Americans have grown increasingly worried about in recent years amid record levels of migrant crossings at the southern border.
"Well, as President, I will put politics aside to fix our immigration system and find solutions to problems which have persisted for far too long...These issues are highly consequential for our nation," she said.
Harris, 59, will take on Trump, 78, in the November 5 presidential election.
Observing that the contrast in the 2024 election is clear, Harris said it is a choice between common sense solutions and the same old political games.
"In the four years that Donald Trump was President, he did nothing to fix our broken immigration system. He did not solve the shortage of immigration judges and border agents or create lawful pathways into our nation. He did nothing to address our outdated asylum system. And did not work with other governments in our hemisphere to deal with what is clearly a regional challenge," she alleged.
Harris slammed Trump for wanting to run on a problem instead of fix a problem.
"The American people deserve a President who cares more about border security than playing political games," she said.
As a former border state Attorney General, Harris noted that she understands what security and enforcing the law at the border means, prosecuting transnational criminal organizations for the trafficking of guns, drugs, and human beings.
As such she unveiled her approach to "target the entire global fentanyl supply chain" to "significantly reduce the flow of precursor chemicals from China" and protect Americans from the "unimaginable destruction" it is causing.
"On behalf of all communities across our nation that want to see these problems solved I say: We cannot accept Donald Trump's failure to lead. We should not permit scapegoating instead of solutions. Or rhetoric instead of results," she said.
In his remarks earlier in the day, Trump hammered Harris for having an unsecured border.
"This is bad timing for Kamala to show up today at the border. She didn't go there for four years. Today, she shows up," Trump said.
Trump said Harris had betrayed her oath.
"She let our cities fail violent gangs. She let our American sons and daughters be raped and murdered at the hands of vicious monsters. She let American communities be conquered. You go out to Aurora in Colorado, where they're taking over with AK-47s. They're taking over real estate. Kamala turned cherished small towns into blighted refugee camps," he said.
"What Kamala Harris has done is unforgivable. It's a crime what she did. It's got to be criminal. There's no greater act of disloyalty than to extinguish the sovereignty of your own nation, and that's what she's done. She's ruined our nation. She's ruined our nation," Trump alleged.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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