Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris will call for tighter asylum restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border, as she delivers a speech in Arizona on Friday, a campaign official said.
Under the proposal, Harris will call for a change to an existing asylum ban at the border by the Biden-Harris administration that would leave it in place for longer, the official said.
Harris, Biden's "border czar" since March 2021, will face off against Republican Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 presidential election and immigration is a top voter concern, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.
Trump has criticized Harris for record numbers of migrants caught illegally crossing the border in recent years. Harris blames Trump for encouraging Republican lawmakers to sink a bipartisan bill in the Senate that aimed to tighten border security.
President Joe Biden issued an asylum ban — with exceptions — in June that allows migrants caught crossing illegally to be deported or turned back to Mexico when the daily average of border arrests tops 2,500 over a week.
The ban took effect immediately and will remain in place until border arrests drop below an average of 1,500 per day for one week, followed by a two-week waiting period.
Harris is expected to propose changing the policy to lower the 1,500 threshold that allows it to be lifted.
Harris will detail the changes in a speech in the border town of Douglas, Arizona, her first visit to the southern border since becoming the party's nominee.
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