Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday dodged a question about whether her administration would continue the construction of a wall along the southern border, as illegal immigration and the border policies of the Biden administration continue to rank among the top issues for voters.
Harris was speaking to reporters when she was asked about the barrier construction, which was brought up during a CNN town hall meeting in the swing state of Pennsylvania Wednesday.
“I will tell you that my highest priority is to put the resources into ensuring that our border is secure, which is why I’ve been very clear. I’m going to bring back up as president that bipartisan border security bill and make sure that it is brought to my desk so I can sign it into law,” she said before criticizing former President Trump.
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Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, speaks during a CNN town hall in Aston, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP/Matt Rourke)
“The biggest issue that we have right now is that Donald Trump has stood in the way of what would have been a proven part of the solution to the bigger problem, which is that we have a broken immigration system in America, and we need to fix it,” Harris continued.
Harris has repeatedly scorned Trump over his border policies, which resulted in a sharp decline in illegal immigrant crossings into the United States. Trump ran in 2016 on a pledge to build a border wall and have Mexico pay for it, but it never did.
“How much of that wall did he build? I think the last number I saw was about 2%,” Harris said Wednesday.
Harris was asked at the town hall if she agreed to earmark $650 million to continue construction of the border wall, which Harris previously called “stupid.”
“I pledge that I am going to bring forward that bipartisan bill to further strengthen and secure our border. Yes, I am, and I’m going to work across the aisle to pass a comprehensive bill that deals with a broken immigration system,” she responded.
On Thursday, Harris said Trump prefers to run on the problem instead of fixing the immigration system.
“I intend to fix the problem in a way that is just about practical solutions that are within our arm’s reach. If we have the commitment to do it,” she said without responding to the border wall question.
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On the campaign trail and in media interviews, she has dodged questions about the Biden administration’s border policies that resulted in record-high numbers of illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S. and migrant crime, preferring to criticize Trump and promote a 2021 bill as evidence that Biden tried to strengthen U.S. immigration policies ahead of the migrant crisis.
That bill would have paved the way to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.