Harris calls for more immigration controls at border, tougher fentanyl measures

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris visited the U.S.-Mexico border for the first time in her 2024 presidential campaign on Friday (September 27), calling for tighter asylum restrictions and vowing to make stopping fentanyl from entering the U.S. a "top priority." Harris spoke in Douglas, Arizona, a border town of less than 17,000 people, on Friday, where she accused her Republican rival Donald Trump of "fanning the flames of fear and division," over the impact of immigrants on American life. Harris called for more punitive measures for people crossing the border illegally, following an asylum ban for those entering the U.S. illegally established by President Joe Biden this year. "I will take further action to keep the border closed between ports of entry. Those who cross our borders unlawfully will be apprehended and removed and barred from re-entering for five years," Harris said. "We will pursue more severe criminal charges against repeat violators, and if someone does not make an asylum request at a legal point of entry and instead crosses our border unlawfully, they will be barred from receiving asylum," she said. But Harris also said that her policy would forge a path for a humane immigration program. "I reject the false choice that suggests we must either choose between securing our border or creating a system of immigration that is safe, orderly and humane," Harris said. "We can and we must do both." Harris was introduced by Theresa Guerrero, whose 31-year-old son Jacob Guerrero died from fentanyl poisoning. She accused Trump of blocking a comprehensive border security bill that would have stemmed the flow of fentanyl. Harris said she would target the "entire global fentanyl supply chain" to materially and sustainably disrupt the flow of illicit fentanyl, calling on China to do more to crack down on fentanyl precursor chemicals. (Production: Liliana Salgado, Jorge Garcia)