Harris promises tougher immigration measures at border

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris visited the US-Mexico border for the first time in her 2024 presidential campaign, calling for tighter asylum restrictions and vowing to make stopping fentanyl from entering the US a "top priority."

Ms Harris outlined her plans to fix the "broken immigration system" in Douglas, Arizona, a border town of fewer than 17,000 people, while accusing her republican rival Donald Trump of "fanning the flames of fear and division" over the impact of immigrants on American life.

Some seven million migrants have been arrested crossing the US-Mexico border illegally during President Joe Biden's administration, according to government data, a record high number that has fueled criticism of the US president and vice president.

Immigration is a top issue for voters. Arizona is a closely contested election state, with a high population of Latino voters sought by both parties.

The nation's porous southern border remains a source of fentanyl, a leading cause of drug overdoses in the United States.

Ms Harris called for more punitive measures for people crossing the border illegally, following an asylum ban for those entering illegally, a move Mr Biden took this year that has sharply reduced illegal crossings.

In Douglas, Ms Harris spoke to Customs and Border Protection officials and viewed part of a border barrier built between 2011 and 2012 during the administration of former US president Barack Obama, the White House said.

Read more stories from around the world

Ms Harris also received a briefing on the CBP's drug enforcement operations and viewed inspection technology used to seize illegal drugs, including fentanyl, the campaign said, noting that border officials stopped more fentanyl at ports of entry in 2022 and 2023 than in the previous five fiscal years combined.

The US vice president said she would target the "entire global fentanyl supply chain."

Fentanyl overdoses have surged to become the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. Over 107,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2023.

Ms Harris pledged to double funding for the prosecution of trans-national criminal organisations and cartels, and modernise US screening and vetting infrastructure.

Immigration a top issue

Mr Trump and his running mate JD Vance have increased their criticism of immigrants in recent weeks, repeating falsehoods about legal Haitian immigrants in Mr Vance's home state of Ohio and suggesting that immigrants are committing crimes and stealing jobs from US citizens.

Mr Trump blamed Ms Harris for the rising trend of irregular migration.

"The architect of this destruction is Kamala Harris," Mr Trump said at Trump Tower in Manhattan.

"She keeps talking about how she supposedly wants to fix the border. We would merely ask, Why didn't she do it four years ago? It's a very simple question."

A Reuters/Ipsos poll last month found that 43% of voters favoured Mr Trump on the issue of immigration and 33% favoured Ms Harris, while 24% either did not know, chose someone else or did not answer.

Emigration from Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia to the United States has created unease among voters concerned about what the trend means for the US economy, crime rates and culture.

The share of American residents born abroad rose by nearly a fifth to 47.8 million from 2010 to 2023, according to the US Census Bureau.