COCHISE COUNTY, Ariz. — Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance brought his fiery campaign rhetoric about immigration to the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday as the Trump campaign pummeled Vice President Kamala Harris. the Biden administration’s approach to border security.
Sharpening his attacks on Harris in recent days, the Republican senator from Ohio visited an unfinished portion of the border wall in Arizona – a sharp visual to drive home the juxtaposition of the Harris and Trump campaign records.
“It’s not hard to secure the southern border, you just need to reimplement some common sense policies,” Vance said after receiving input from Border Patrol union members, a sheriff’s department representative and a local farmer.
Vance, turning to the members of the police flanking him in The pulpit, asked a rhetorical question: “Tell me, did Kamala Harris do anything you asked her to do? Did her border czar do anything you asked? The answer is no.”
A central component of former President Donald Trump’s proposed border policy is his promise to carry out a mass deportation of undocumented immigrants if he is sent back to the White House, after promising during his first presidential campaign to build a wall along the southern border.
Vance explained how the policy could withstand legal challenges as he continued his attacks on Harris in an interview following his comments.
“I think the courts have made it very clear that the president has complete control over border policy, and therefore we will be able to do a lot,” Vance said, referring to cases during Trump’s time as president.
“One of the reasons ‘border czar’ Kamala Harris has been a failure here is because she was in charge of coordinating the federal government’s response,” Vance added.
“The courts have said the federal government has too much power here.”
Harris, meanwhile, was tasked in 2021 with addressing the “root causes” of migration to the United States from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Republicans painted a broader portrait of Harris’ immigration responsibilities, which were not directly within her purview, while also attacking the Biden administration generally on migration and border policy.
Harris rejected her opponents’ characterization of her record on border security, touting her experience prosecuting transnational drug cartels as California’s attorney general before a crowd of 10,000 at a rally in Atlanta this week. She also criticized Trump for urging Republicans not to support a bipartisan border security bill.
Several local officials who supported Harris criticized Trump and Vance in the same vein before Vance’s visit.
“Now that it’s election time, J.D. Vance and Trump are here to campaign at the border, even though they are responsible for blocking the most important bill we’ve seen to improve border security,” said Bisbee Mayor Ken Budge , in an organized conference call. by the Harris campaign.
Vance’s morning trip to the border included a brief tour and discussion with local officials, including members of a border patrol union, alongside John Ladd, a local farmer.
As Vance made his way through the barrier, the Biden administration announced that imprisoned journalist Evan Gershkovich and Navy veteran Paul Whelan were back in U.S. custody after a major conversation with the Russian government.
“I mean, it’s great that Evan and Paul Whelan are coming home. I think what this really shows is that a lot of bad guys around the world are concerned about Donald Trump returning to office,” Vance said, offering his initial reaction to early reports of the exchange.
The senator, who acknowledged his difficult implementation as Trump’s running mate in an interview earlier this week, also maintained resurfaced comments from 2021 referring to Democratic leaders like Harris as “childless hot women.”
“As I said, what I said then, and what I believe now, is that I think we should be more pro-family,” he said.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
