How Harris will try to flip the script on border concerns on the campaign trail

One of former President Donald Trump‘s strongest arguments against Vice President Kamala Harris is her management of the country’s southern border. But lately, she’s tried strategies to blunt his attacks.

Speaking to a crowd of thousands in Glendale, Arizona, Harris reminded the audience of her experience close to a border.

“I was attorney general of a border state. I went after the transnational gangs, the drug cartels, and the human traffickers,” Harris said. “I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won, so I know what I’m talking about.”

She then said, “[Trump] talks a big game about border security, but he does not walk the walk,” blaming Trump for Congress‘s failure to pass border legislation earlier this year.

The attack is a newer one for Harris, who has been criticized by Republicans for her shifting stance on the southern border. As a presidential candidate in 2020, she said that illegal border crossings shouldn’t be prosecuted. This year, a Harris campaign advisor told Politico that her stance is “the same as the administration’s — unauthorized border crossings are illegal.” 

Democrats have generally shied away from tackling immigration as a campaign and legislative issue as much as Republicans have in recent years. But Harris shifted that narrative slightly Friday.

“We know our immigration system is broken, and we know what it takes to fix it: comprehensive reform,” she said. “That includes strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship.”

A new campaign ad also sought to reinforce Harris’s record on the border.

“As vice president, she backed the toughest border control bill in decades. And as president, she will hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking. Fixing the border is tough. So is Kamala Harris,” a voice read over videos of Harris’ political career.

Trump has criticized Harris for her alleged role as President Joe Biden‘s “border czar” while millions of undocumented immigrants have come into the United States. Many don’t face legal consequences for crossing the border illegally.

“As border czar, Kamala threw open our borders that allowed 20 million illegal aliens to stampede into our country from all over the world,” Trump said at a rally less than a week after Biden dropped out.

“I will terminate every single open border policy of the Biden-Harris administration, and we will seal the border, and we will stop Kamala Harris invasion without delay,” he said.

Arizona is a critical swing state where issues like the southern border crisis resonate with voters there, and time will tell if Harris can make a compelling border argument.

Trump led Harris by five points in the state in a pair of late-July polls from Emerson College and Public Opinion Strategies, two non-partisan pollsters.