Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered more razor wire to reinforce the southern border as Vice President Kamala Harris accused the GOP of “fanning the flames of fear” over immigration.
Abbott said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that “Texas will not back down” from reinforcing border security and keeping “communities safe”.
His remarks come as Kamala Harris seeks to convince voters that she can solve the southern border crisis, amid polling from Redfield and Wilton Strategies that suggests that 47 percent of respondents trust Donald Trump on immigration, compared to 36 percent who for the Vice President.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump talks with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas.
Eric Gay/AP
On Sunday, at a rally in Las Vegas, Harris attacked the rhetoric employed by Trump and the GOP.
“He continues to fan the flames of fear and division,” Harris said at the World Market Center in downtown Las Vegas.
She said tackling the complexities of immigration is serious and “you know Donald Trump won’t solve it.”
“When he was president, he did nothing to fix our immigration system,” she added.
Harris’ campaign stop came roughly two weeks after Trump held a rally at the same location two weeks ago.
Abbott regularly announces the deployment of razor wire, buoys, and the army as part of efforts to prevent migrants from unlawfully entering the country.
Since the razor wire was enforced in 2023 to curb illegal migration, state and federal governments have been involved in an ongoing dispute over the legality of the issue.
It comes after Harris made her first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border as the Democratic presidential candidate on September 27.
Vice President Kamala Harris talks with John Modlin, the chief patrol agent for the Tucson Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, right, and Blaine Bennett, the U.S. Border Patrol Douglas Station border patrol agent in charge, as she visits the U.S. border with Mexico in Douglas, Ariz., Friday, Sept. 27, 2024
Carolyn Kaster/AP
Abbott said in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “Texas National Guard engineers work alongside Louisiana National Guard soldiers to reinforce razor wire barriers at the border. With the help of partner states, Texas will not back down from our mission to keep our communities safe.
A recent UnidosUS poll of Latino voters in Nevada and other battleground states found that immigration reform and border security are key priorities. Voters expressed strong support for policies that offer a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Harris has highlighted the bipartisan border security bill, which was killed after Trump ordered GOP lawmakers to oppose it.
The bill would have given the President the authority to shut down any asylum requests and have added 1,500 more CBP officers and 4,300 asylum officers to deal with the immigration backlog.
Harris said Trump “tanked the bill” because he thought it would hurt his campaign.
Trump has also promised mass deportation if elected to a second term. However, the plans have received criticism from within GOP ranks.
Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona on September 27 to speak on border security in the key swing state as former President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Zelensky.
AP
“We must have comprehensive immigration reform, strong border security, and an earned pathway to citizenship,” Harris said.
Harris said there are hard-working immigrants who have “been here for years, including our Dreamers,” referring to immigrants who arrived in the United States with their families when they were children.
A “Dreamer” is an immigrant who was brought to the U.S. illegally as a child but has since grown up to identify as an American.
Harris supports policies that offer a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, including so-called Dreamers.
However, Trump advocates for terminating the Dreamers program to curb migration.
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