ATLANTA — Kamala Harris is punching back at Donald Trump’s “border czar” attacks.
Harris, speaking at a campaign rally here on Tuesday, drew on her background as California state attorney general to contrast herself against the former president as he makes immigration a centerpiece of his campaign. She highlighted the pressure the former president put on his GOP Senate allies earlier this year to kill any border legislation that wasn’t “perfect,” after a bipartisan group of senators had crafted a compromise bill.
“He tanked the bipartisan deal because he thought it would help him win an election, which goes to show Donald Trump does not care about border security. He only cares about himself,” Harris said, promising to bring the bipartisan border bill back and sign it into law if elected president.
The vice president’s comments follow the Tuesday release of a new ad from Trump’s campaign running across several key battleground states focused on Harris’s record on immigration. Republicans have zeroed in on Harris’s charge of addressing the root causes of migration in Central America to broadly cast her as solely responsible for the nation’s border security over the last three years.
“This is America’s border czar — and she’s failed us,” one of the new ads says.
The Harris campaign on Tuesday released its own 50-second campaign video drawing a similar contrast to the one she highlighted at the rally.
“Kamala Harris supports increasing the number of Border Patrol agents. Donald Trump blocked a bill to increase the number of Border Patrol agents,” the video says.
During the rally, Harris also promised to “take on” price gouging, bring down costs, ban hidden fees and surprise late charges in the financial industry, pass a voter-access bill and enact universal background checks on gun sales and transfers.
