JD Vance calls Kamala Harris' immigrations policies 'idiotic' while touring the Arizona border

With Kamala Harris leaping over Donald Trump in Arizona in a recent poll and border security being one of the main electoral issues as November approaches, the battleground state is gearing up for an influx of attention.

Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance went to the state on Thursday, touring the Arizona-Mexico border in Cochise County. As expected, he took the opportunity to take several jabs at the current administration and, especially at presumptive presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

The senator from Ohio said that policies from Harris at the border were "terrible and idiotic." "It's hard to believe, until you see it with your own eyes, just how bad the policies of the Kamala Harris administration have been when it comes to the southern border."

He then went on to detail specific policies he disagrees with:

"They stopped deportations on day one. They stopped construction of the border wall on day one. We see the border wall sitting here ready to be completed behind us, and that can't happen because of Kamala Harris' administration."

According to Newsweek, the senator said hospitals and schools were overwhelmed by migrant arrivals.

He concluded his speech by plugging his and his running mate's plans for the border:

"If people can come into this country and they know they are never going to be deported, you effectively have an open border. That's what Kamala Harris promised. That's what Kamala Harris did, and Donald Trump and I promise to do the opposite."

Vance's visit coincides with a period of decreased apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border, which have dropped by over 60% since June following President Joe Biden's executive order to restrict asylum seekers. The final figure for July figures to be around 57,000 which would be the lowest figure since September 2020.

In fact, apprehensions have dropped so much that there the chances that the government's ban on asylum seeking could be lifted soon. The measure determines the ban will go into effect once the seven-day average of daily encounters surpasses 2,500 and will be lifted once it drops below 1,500.