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CNN
—
Vice President Kamala Harris went on the offensive on immigration at her rally in Atlanta Tuesday, attempting to counter former President Donald Trump’s attacks on the issue.
She touted her role as a California attorney general who prosecuted transnational gangs, drug cartels and human traffickers, then blamed Trump for “tanking” this year’s bipartisan border bill on Capitol Hill “because he thought it would help him win an election.”
“Donald Trump does not care about border security, he only cares about himself,” Harris said, adding that she would work to pass the bill as president.
“In this campaign, I will proudly put my record against his any day,” she said in a high-profile visit to Georgia that comes early in her bid and signals the campaign’s renewed push to put the state in play for Democrats. She also called on Trump to debate her, drawing loud cheers from the crowd when she said, “Because as the saying goes, if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face.”
The Harris campaign earlier Tuesday previewed how it will be responding to Trump’s attacks falsely casting her as the administration’s “border czar” with a new 50-second campaign video. It paints Trump as unserious on border security and cites his decision to scuttle the bipartisan immigration deal that included some of the toughest border security measures in recent memory.
“Kamala Harris supports increasing the number of Border Patrol agents. Donald Trump blocked a bill to increase the number of Border Patrol agents,” the voiceover in the video states, similarly citing Harris’ support for investing in new technology to block fentanyl from entering the US.
“Kamala Harris prosecuted transnational gang members and got them sentenced to prison. Trump is trying to avoid being sentenced to prison,” it continues, concluding with: “There’s two choices in this election: The one who will fix our broken immigration system and the one who is trying to stop her.”
The video will be shared on social media, though it’s unclear whether the campaign will put money behind it and blast it on airwaves. It doesn’t make mention of the Republican label “border czar.”
The management of the US-Mexico border had been a political liability for President Joe Biden, and it is now following Harris as Trump seizes on her task to address the root causes of migration in Central America.
The video comes on the heels of two Trump campaign ads taking direct aim at Harris’ immigration portfolio.
Both Trump campaign ads, released this week, pull from a 2021 NBC interview where Harris was pressed about the fact that she hadn’t yet visited the US-Mexico border and she stumbled through a response by claiming she also hadn’t yet gone to Europe — an answer that perplexed administration officials at the time.
While another shows a video of Harris dancing at an event, stating: “This is America’s border czar — and she’s failed us.”
Both ads conclude by describing Harris as “failed. Weak. Dangerously liberal.”
Harris’ root cause work dates to March 2021. During an influx of unaccompanied migrant children, Biden tasked the vice president with overseeing diplomatic efforts in Central America, but in the last three years, her assignment has been bundled with the administration’s larger migration issues.
Biden administration officials have repeatedly maintained that Harris focused on long-term fixes, while the Department of Homeland Security remained responsible for overseeing border security.
This story has been updated with additional remarks from Harris.
