For her first trip to the US-Mexico border as a presidential candidate in 2024, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris called for stricter asylum regulations and promised to make preventing fentanyl from entering the US a “top priority,” reports RTE.
In Douglas, Arizona, a border town of less than 17,000 people, Ms. Harris detailed her ideas to address the “broken immigration system” while accusing her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, of “fanning the flames of fear and division” over the influence of immigrants on American society.
Government statistics indicates that under President Joe Biden’s administration, about seven million migrants have been apprehended for unlawfully crossing the US-Mexico border. This is a record high figure that has fuelled criticism of the US president and vice president, reports RTE.
For voters, immigration is a major concern. Arizona is a hotly fought state for elections because both parties are vying for the state’s large Latino voting base.
One of the biggest causes of drug overdoses in the US is still fentanyl, which is being obtained via the country’s porous southern border.
Following President Biden’s decision this year to forbid refuge for individuals entering the country illegally, which significantly decreased the number of illegal crossings, Ms. Harris urged for harsher penalties for those who do so, reports RTE.
According to the White House, Ms. Harris visited Douglas and had conversations with personnel from Customs and Border Protection. She also got to see a portion of a border wall that was constructed between 2011 and 2012, while US President Barack Obama was in office, reports RTE.
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