COCHISE COUNTY, AZ — Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance called Vice President Kamala Harris a failed “border czar” during a tour of the “smuggler’s paradise” stretch of the border in Arizona.
During his visit to the notorious sector of the border in Cochise County, Vance said Harris has been ineffective at tackling the surge of migrants crossing the border since she took office, claiming all of that will change if he and Donald Trump are elected in November.
“It’s unbelievable what we’re letting happen at the southern border, and it’s because Kamala Harris refuses to do her job,” Vance said.
Vance pointed to high profile crimes conducted by migrants as evidence of Harris’ alleged failure, making his point through his visit of the Tucson border sector.
The area is marked by mountainous, rugged terrain that serves as a highway for fentanyl smuggling and was the site of a record breaking seizure of 4 million fentanyl pills earlier this week.
The area sports signage warning people of just how common it is for smugglers to pass through the area because of its proximity to the border.
“Our communities are suffering, people are overdosing from fentanyl,” Vance said of the situation. “This can be stopped.”
Along with drug and human trafficking, Vance suggested that the Harris-Biden border failure was responsible for the death of Jocelyn Nungaray, the 12-year-old who was sexually assaulted and murder by two undocumented migrants.
Vance claimed Harris handed migrants an open border that has allowed nearly 10 million people to cross into the US illegally, with the Biden-Harris administration allegedly ignoring the pleas of local officials for help.
The GOP vice presidential nominee said his plan for the border was to reinstate every policy that the US government has done away while Biden and Harris have been in office.
“You’ve got to stop catch-and-release, you’ve got to force asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while their claims are being adjudicated, and you’ve got to finish this border wall and reimplement deportations,” Vance said.
“If people could come into this country, and they know they’re never going to be deported, you effectively have an open border,” he added.
“That’s what Kamala Harris promised. That’s what Kamala Harris did.”