Harris planning a visit to southern border this week: Source

ByMolly Nagle, Soorin Kim, Lalee Ibssa and Kelsey Walsh ABCNews logo
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
Harris planning a visit to southern border this week: Source
Vice President Harris is planning to visit the southern border during her visit to Arizona on Friday.

Vice President Kamala Harris is planning to visit the southern border during her visit to Arizona on Friday, according to a source familiar with the plan.

This would be Harris' first visit to the southern border since she jumped to the top of the ticket at the end of July.

Immigration has been a big issue in the 2024 race, with Donald Trump and Republicans inaccurately calling Harris the "border czar" and blaming her for the border crisis. Harris, in turn, argues that Trump and Republicans are at fault for killing the bipartisan border bill earlier this year.

FILE - Vice President Kamala Harris talks to Gloria Chavez, Chief Patrol Agent of the El Paso Sector, as she tours the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Central Processing Center, June 25, 2021, in El Paso, Texas.
FILE - Vice President Kamala Harris talks to Gloria Chavez, Chief Patrol Agent of the El Paso Sector, at the Protection Central Processing Center, June 25, 2021, in El Paso, Texas.
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File

Harris has overseen the Biden administration's efforts to address the root causes of migration as vice president, and visited the border in 2021, after she came under fire for not having done so.

Trump weighed in on Harris' plans to visit the southern border this Friday in Arizona, labelling the visit as "political" and accusing her of attempting to "con the public" of her border record.

"After almost four years, Border Czar Kamala Harris has decided, for political reasons, that it's time for her to go to our broken Southern Border. What a disgrace that she waited so long," Trump wrote on his social media, repeating his disparaging rhetoric on migrants.

While Harris has been to the southern border, the trip marks her first visit since lauched her campaign at the end of July.

Trump has made immigration central to his 2024 campaign, pledging mass deportations and a border shutdown among other hard-line policies. He visited the border last month, the same day Harris formally accepted the Democratic nomination for president.