A Republican lawmaker has issued a withering critique of Vice President Kamala Harris over her immigration policies and claimed she “abandoned” U.S.-Mexico border states.
Immigration is a highly salient topic in this year’s election cycle, as both candidates have proposed policies to curb migration. GOP lawmakers have repeatedly used border security as an attack line against Harris, while Democrats have pointed out former President Donald Trump ordered Republicans to kill a bipartisan border security bill earlier this year.
Rep. Tony Gonzales held a press conference on Thursday in Texas, calling out the Biden-Harris Administration for not doing enough to enforce tougher border security measures.
“The Biden-Harris Administration has forgotten us. They’ve abandoned us. We’re on our own. We’ve been on our own. And so, we can either complain about the issue or we can roll up our sleeves and get to work,” Gonzales said.
U.S. Representative Tony Gonzales launched a scathing attack on Vice President Kamala Harris’ immigration policies and claimed she “abandoned” U.S.-Mexico border states.
Patrick Semansky/Graeme Sloan/AP/Sipa USA
Gonzales claimed Harris didn’t see the full scale of the border “crisis” during her trip to El Paso in 2021.
“I remember [Democratic Rep.] Veronica Escobar hosting the Vice President Harris and [Homeland Security secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas at the tarmac. They didn’t come out here. They didn’t come out to the Lower Valley,” Gonzales said.
Newsweek contacted Escobar for comment via a request form outside of office hours.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris during the Democratic National Convention Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, in Chicago.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
It comes as Harris addressed immigration policy and border security in her first sit-down interview in the 2024 presidential race, a key issue that Democrats are perceived to be weak on.
Harris and Waltz made a policy pitch to the nation to address voters’ top concerns while appearing on CNN together.
“I will say this, that Joe Biden and I and our administration worked with members of the United States Congress on an immigration issue that is very significant to the American people and to our security, which is the border,” Harris told CNN’s Dana Bash.
“And through bipartisan work, including some of the most conservative members of the United States Congress, a bill was crafted, which we supported, which I support. And Donald Trump got word of this bill that would have contributed to securing our border, and because he believes that it would not have helped him politically, he told his folks in Congress, ‘Don’t put it forward.'”
Harris pledged to revive the Biden administration’s failed border security bill during her keynote speech at the DNC.
During her highly anticipated CNNinterview, the vice president vowed to be tougher on border security to reduce migration figures.
“My value around what we need to do to secure our border—that value has not changed. I spent two terms as the attorney general of California prosecuting transnational criminal organizations, violations of American laws regarding the illegal passage of guns, drugs, and human beings across our border. My values have not changed,” she said.
An ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll in August suggested Americans trust Trump more than Harris on matters concerning immigration policy.
President Donald Trump speaks with Rodney Scott, the U.S. Border Patrol Chief, as he tours a section of the border wall, Tuesday, June 23, 2020, in San Luis, Arizona.
Evan Vucci/AP
Trump has pledged to deport thousands of migrants in a highly controversial mass deportation plan.
All migrants unlawfully in the U.S. would be deported under Trump’s new flagship policy rolled out for the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
The policy could cut half of the agricultural labor force if enacted and severely cripple America’s dairy industry, according to experts.
According to a July poll by Gallup, a slight majority of respondents support Trump’s flagship border wall policy from 2016, as 53 percent of Republicans and Democrats support significantly expanding the construction of walls along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In July, Rep. Mark Green, chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, launched a scathing attack on Harris and claimed the Democratic nominee is incentivizing “lawlessness at the expense of Americans’ safety.”
Green also gave a blistering assessment of the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of immigration and described the situation on the border as a “public safety crisis.”
Newsweek reached out to the Harris campaign for comment outside of normal working hours.
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