TUCSON, Ariz. — Vice President Kamala Harris will try to outbid President Biden on border security Friday, calling for a more powerful trigger for when the border can be shut down to block new asylum claims.
Ms. Harris will make the announcement during a trip to the border in Douglas, Arizona, according to a campaign staffer.
“She will say she would put in place stronger emergency authorities than those in place as a result of the Biden-Harris administration’s executive actions,” the staffer said. “Specifically, she will make it harder to lift the emergency authority by requiring that the number of average border crossings achieve a further drop — below the current level of 1,500 — before the shutdown can be lifted.”
Mr. Biden in June issued an executive order declaring a border emergency that shut down many asylum claims when apprehensions of illegal immigrants by the Border Patrol topped 2,500 a day over a week. At that point, Mr. Biden says, agents have expulsion powers.
Ms. Harris would ratchet down the threshold, making it easier to trigger the emergency expulsion powers.
It’s similar to the Title 42 pandemic expulsion authority then-President Donald Trump put in place in 2020 — and which the Biden administration limited, then removed in May 2023.
The result was a record run of illegal immigration.
Since Mr. Biden’s executive order in June, the numbers have dipped again.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.