Kamala Harris’ campaign chief signals she would keep Biden’s border crackdown if elected

Tucson — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign chief has signaled that Harris, if elected in November, would continue President Biden’s asylum crackdown, which U.S. officials have credited for a steep drop in migrant crossings along the southern border.

In an exclusive interview with CBS News, Harris’ campaign manager, Julie Chávez Rodríguez, was asked if the vice president would keep the partial ban on asylum claims that Mr. Biden enacted in June through a presidential proclamation.

“I think at this point, you know, the policies that are, you know, having a real impact on ensuring that we have security and order at our border are policies that will continue,” Chávez Rodríguez responded.

Chávez Rodríguez’s comments inside a restaurant in Tucson, Arizona are the first indication that U.S. border policy may not change significantly if Harris succeeds Mr. Biden as president, despite pressure from progressive activists angry with the Biden administration’s pivot on asylum. Following Mr. Biden’s decision to abandon his reelection bid, Harris has become the presumptive Democratic candidate who will face former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, in November.

Citing a presidential authority often invoked by Trump during his administration, Mr. Biden in early June suspended the entry of most migrants crossing the southern border, disqualifying those who enter the U.S. illegally from asylum. The policy, which is being challenged in court by migrant advocates, marked a sweeping change by an administration that came into office promising to “restore” the U.S. asylum system but quickly found itself facing record numbers of border crossings.

U.S. officials have credited the partial asylum ban for accelerating a months-long drop in illegal crossings at the southern border this year. In June, the number of migrants apprehended by Border Patrol fell to a 3-year low, and migrant arrivals plunged further in July, which is on track to see the lowest level of illegal border crossings since the fall of 2020, according to internal government data obtained by CBS News.

Chávez Rodríguez noted the dramatic reduction in border crossings on Friday.

“As a result of actions they’ve taken, we have seen,” she said, “a record drop in migration.”

“Trump continues to play politics with this issue”

Immigration has emerged as a major issue on the campaign trail, with polls finding it is among the most pressing concerns among American voters.

Trump and other Republicans had been seeking to make Mr. Biden’s immigration record a defining issue in the race for the White House, faulting him for the unprecedented levels of migrant apprehensions recorded in the past three years. Now that she’s the likely Democratic presidential nominee, Harris is facing similar political attacks.

In March 2021, Harris was tasked by Mr. Biden with leading his administration’s effort to reduce poverty, violence and corruption in Central America through diplomacy and investment in the region. She has not overseen the administration’s border policy.

Still, Harris’ immigration role in the Biden White House has garnered withering criticism from Republicans, who have dubbed her the “border czar” and accused her of not being sufficiently engaged on the issue.

Asked how Harris would respond to her critics on immigration, Chávez Rodríguez said Harris is focused on “real solutions” to the border woes that have bedeviled Democratic and Republicans alike, citing the bipartisan border security agreement that the White House forged with a group of senators earlier this year. Without enough Republican support, that deal failed twice in the Senate.

“As a result of Donald Trump saying that he didn’t want Republicans to pass it, it failed,” Chávez Rodríguez said. “And we know we need to bring forward solutions, while Donald Trump continues to play politics with this issue.”

“We know at the end of the day the only way to really modernize our immigration system and secure our border is for Congress to pass common-sense immigration legislation,” Chávez Rodríguez added. 

Trump has promised a radical shift on immigration if voters return him to the White House. He has vowed to carry out the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history, including by deputizing the National Guard to conduct immigration enforcement. He has also said he would impose ideological screenings on legal immigrants, militarize the border and terminate birthright citizenship for the children of unauthorized immigrants.