After meeting with local leaders and law enforcement at the southern border in Douglas, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that, if elected president, she would propose tighter rules for asylum claims.
Harris’ proposal calls for even more stringent policies than the executive actions used by the Biden administration earlier this year to suspend asylum claims when the number of daily border crossings meets a certain threshold.
“While we understand that many people are desperate to migrate to the United States, our system must be orderly and secure, and that is my goal,” Harris said.
Biden’s executive actions have led to a steep drop in illegal border crossings, blunting some criticism from Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who’ve attacked Harris for what they call the administration’s open border policies.
Recent polling shows Trump still has the edge over Harris when it comes to border security, an issue top of mind for many voters, though the former president’s lead is not as strong as it was when President Biden was still the Democratic presidential nominee.
Before her remarks on border policy in Douglas, Harris visited the border wall – marking the first time she’s done so as a presidential nominee, and the second time since she took office in 2021.
Harris walked a few feet from the wall – a portion built more than a decade ago under former President Barack Obama – and spoke with two Border Patrol agents. She was also briefed by Customs and Border Protection officials from the Tucson Sector and Douglas Border Patrol Station, alongside Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and state Attorney General Kris Mayes.
“I spoke with dedicated agents from border patrol and customs officers who every day see the overflow of commercial traffic through the port,” Harris said. “These men and women who work there and at other places along our southern border help keep our nation secure, and they need more resources to do their jobs.”
Republicans like Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs criticized the trip as little more than a photo op – they say Harris hasn’t done enough to secure the border during her time as vice president.
In Douglas, Harris countered that it was Republicans who’d rather use the border as a photo op than agree to real solutions, like a bipartisan border security bill negotiated in the U.S. Senate earlier this year. It was Trump, Harris noted, who discouraged Republicans in Congress from supporting the deal.
Harris accused Trump of torpedoing the proposal so he could campaign on chaos at the southern border.
“The American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games and their personal political future,” she said.
Rights groups say Harris' plan to tighten asylum restriction will make the border more deadly
Harris plans to tighten a temporary rule put in place this summer along the border that severely restricts asylum.
The Biden administration’s rule has been in place since June and under it, most migrants apprehended between ports of entry are sent back to Mexico or their home countries — without the chance to ask for asylum. It’s triggered when daily apprehensions top 2,500 a week and could be lifted when that daily number dips below 1,500 for a week.
As NPR reports, Harris plans to make it harder to remove the order by requiring significantly lower apprehension numbers.
Vickie Gaubeca, associate director of US immigration and border policy with Human Rights Watch, says it's a similar rule to the one the Trump administration. Rights groups have sued both versions and the case against the Biden administration's rule is still making its way through federal court.
"But furthermore, we have to consider our human rights obligations, because, again, it should not matter the form of entry into the country, a person should be able to ask for asylum. They have the right to ask for asylum," Gaubeca said. "The question that comes up for me is why are we going to reduce the numbers even more when we haven’t even gotten to the original numbers? Given that this interim rule may or may not be unlawful, why are we trying to make it more strict?"
Gaubeca says the current rule has already made the border more deadly — and tightening it would only make things worse.
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