Vice President Harris on Wednesday sparred at length with Fox News anchor Bret Baier over immigration in a rare sit-down with the network.
Baier opened the interview by asking Harris how many immigrants had crossed the southern border during the Biden administration. As Harris acknowledged immigration was “a topic of discussion that people want to rightly have,” Baier interjected to note it was roughly 6 million people.
Baier then pressed Harris on the Biden administration’s decision to end a Trump-era policy that forced potential asylum-seekers to stay in Mexico to wait out the results of their case in U.S. immigration court.
Harris noted that the first proposed piece of legislation President Biden put forward after being sworn in was an immigration bill. Baier noted the bill never came up for a vote despite Democrats controlling the House and Senate.
“We recognized from day one that — on the point of this being your first question — it is a priority for us as a nation and for the American people, and our focus has been on fixing a problem,” Harris said, pointing to the White House’s proposals to increase resources at the border, bolster penalties for illegal crossings and deal with points of entry.
She went on to hit former President Trump for opposing a bipartisan border security proposal earlier this year, saying her opponent would “prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem, and in this election this is rightly a discussion the American people want to have.”
Baier highlighted the cases of Rachel Nungaray, Laken Riley and Rachel Morin, young women who were allegedly killed by men who entered the country illegally.
“Do you owe those families an apology?” Baier asked.
“Those are tragic cases. There’s no question about that. There’s no question about that. And I can’t imagine the pain that the families of those victims have experienced for a loss that should not have occurred,” Harris said. “So that is true. It is also true that if a border security [bill] had actually been passed nine months ago it would be nine months we would have had more border agents at the border, more support for the folks who are working around the clock trying to hold it all together to ensure that no future harm would occur.”
“This election in 20 days will determine whether we have a president of the United States who actually cares more about fixing a problem even if it is not to their political advantage in an election,” she added.
Trump has campaigned aggressively on immigration heading into November’s election.
Trump has pledged to carry out mass deportations of those in the country illegally if he is elected in November, and he has signaled he would revoke protected status for certain groups, such as Haitian migrants.
He has attacked Harris as the “border czar,” a reference to her role in addressing the root causes of migration from Central American nations. And Trump has repeatedly highlighted instances of violent crimes allegedly committed by individuals who entered the country illegally.
A Wall Street Journal poll published Friday of 2,100 registered voters in the seven battleground states likely to decide November’s election found 52 percent said Trump is best able to handle immigration and border security, compared to 36 percent who said Harris was better on the issue.