The vice president touted her record in prosecuting drug cartels and human traffickers and identified the twin pillars of her immigration policy.
GLENDALE, Ariz.—Vice President Kamala Harris brought her campaign to Arizona, a border state with a large Hispanic population, where she touted her vision for immigration reform.
Harris was accompanied by her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on this fourth of five stops on a weeklong tour of battleground states.
The vice president and former President Donald Trump are in close race here, a state won by President Joe Biden by just 0.5 percent in 2020.
Immigration Reform
Immigration is a significant issue in Arizona, a state in which Hispanics and Latinos comprise more than 30 percent of Arizona’s population, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
A survey from the Center for the Future of Arizona showed that 82 percent of respondents said the current influx of migrants over the southern border has created an “international humanitarian and refugee crisis” that requires a “bipartisan solution.”
The Yuma and Tuscon sectors of the border have seen more than 477,000 contacts with illegal immigrants in the first nine months of fiscal year 2024, accounting for 34 percent of all contacts in the four border states, according to data from the Dept. of Customs and Border Patrol.
The Trump campaign has made illegal immigration a centerpiece of its election campaign, yet Harris pushed back on the issue by touting her credentials as a tough-on-crime prosecutor and criticizing Trump’s position on a recent immigration bill.
“I was attorney general of a border state,” Harris told a crowd of some 15,000 at Desert Diamond Arena. “I went after the transnational gangs, the drug cartels, and human traffickers. I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won.”
Harris said the U.S. immigration system is broken and can be fixed by “comprehensive reform. That includes strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship.”
Pointing to the bipartisan border security bill that Trump opposed earlier this year and which subsequently failed to pass, Harris said, “Donald Trump does not want to fix this problem.”
“When I am president, I will sign the bill,” she added.
Republicans have criticized Harris for not doing more as vice president to address the border crisis, saying that her “open border” policy had left Americans vulnerable to an influx of criminals and fentanyl.
Biden appointed Harris in early 2021 to lead a diplomacy mission to find the “root causes” of migration out of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador specifically. The mission resulted in private-sector investments in the region.
Enthusiastic, Curious Crowd
The rally gathered some 15,000 attendees at Desert Diamond Arena in this suburb nine miles northwest of Phoenix. Harris and Walz appeared at rallies in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan earlier in the week. A final battleground rally is planned for Nevada on Aug. 10.
Many rallygoers spoke of their enthusiasm and hopefulness about Harris’s candidacy. Some others were curious to learn more.
“I am extremely excited because there’s actually hope for the future,” Ines Loureiro, 56, of Tuscon, told The Epoch Times. “Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz share the same views I do. So I feel like they’re speaking for me.”
Teresa Maxwell, 40, of El Mirage, said she was supporting Harris on behalf of her children. “I have a son in special education, and he relies on resources that he gets at school,” Maxwell said, adding that she feared those benefits could be lost.
“I really wanted to hear the policies and just see what she was gonna say about Arizona specific policies, to see if she’s caught up to date,” Jay Berg, 21, of Phoenix, told The Epoch Times.
Walz also drew praise and curiosity from attendees.
“We love him,” Julie Midesles, 27, of Mesa, told The Epoch Times. “He’s the dad that we all wish we had. He’s America’s dad.”
Adam Foster, 18, of Phoenix, said he didn’t know much about the governor. “We just want to see what he says today,” he said.
Attendees waited in line in 105-degree temperatures to enter the rally, a fact commented on by Walz in his remarks. Thanking the crowd for attending, he said, “You walked for miles in—look, I’m a Minnesotan … I’m melting here.”
This was the third rally this week in which speakers paused to call for medical attention for attendees who apparently had been overcome by heat.
Harris’s remarks were interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters, as they had been in an Aug. 7 rally in Detroit.
Harris attempted to continue speaking over the chants of “Free, Free Palestine,” then paused to address the protesters.
“We’re here to fight for our democracy, which includes respecting the voices that I think we are hearing from,” Harris said.
“I have been clear: now is the time to get a ceasefire deal and get the hostage deal done. Now is the time. And the president and I are working around the clock every day to get that ceasefire deal done and bring the hostages home. So, I respect your voices, but we are here to now talk about this race in 2024,” Harris said.
Harris and Walz were officially nominated by the Democratic Party on Aug. 5. The party’s national convention will be held in Chicago on Aug. 19–22.