Harris on immigration: ‘Trump won’t solve it’

At a Sunday rally in Las Vegas, Vice President Kamala Harris accused former President Donald Trump of fanning “flames of fear” around immigration, warned of the dangers of a Trump second term, and urged people to make a voting plan ahead of the election.

Harris’ campaign stop at the World Market Center in downtown Las Vegas came roughly two weeks after Trump held a rally at the same location.

Trump used his speech at the World Market Center to stoke fears about immigrants, adding to a laundry list of anti-immigrant remarks, which include spreading lies about the Haitian community in Ohio.

“He continues to fan the flames of fear and division,” Harris said on Sunday.

Voters have ranked immigration as a top issue in this election. Recent polling by UnidosUS, which surveyed Latinos in Nevada and other battleground states, showed immigration reform and border security among top priorities, with voters favoring policies that provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Harris said tackling the complexities of immigration is serious and “you know Donald Trump won’t solve it.”

Trump has also promised mass deportation if elected to a second term.

“When he was president, he did nothing to fix our immigration system,” she said.

Harris also pointed to earlier this year when Congress was working on a bipartisan deal around immigration, which among other things would have given President Joe Biden the authority to shut down any asylum requests.

She said Trump “tanked the bill” because he thought it would hurt his campaign. The bill died after Trump came out against it.

“We must have comprehensive immigration reform, strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship,” Harris said.

Harris said there are hard-working immigrants who have “been here for years, including our Dreamers,” referring to immigrants who arrived in the United States with their families when they were children.

This was Harris’ second visit to Nevada since replacing Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate and the first since her debate with Trump earlier this month.

The rally came a few days from the anniversary of the 2017 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip.

“What happened on 1 October proves that smart gun safety is just common sense,” she said.

Harris used the event to connect Trump to Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 — a 900-page proposal that sets forth a sweeping conservative agenda if Trump is elected.

“It is a detailed and dangerous blueprint for what he will do if elected again as president,” Harris said.

She also pushed back against his efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Trump attempted to repeal the law during his presidency. He has not provided any details on what health care policy he would put in its place.

During the debate with Harris, he told moderators he had “concepts of a plan.”

“We can laugh at many things but the consequences of this are quite serious,” Harris said Sunday.

Since her August rally, Harris has rolled out more economic proposals around addressing the housing crisis, which include building 300,000 units nationwide.

On Sunday she also talked about what she deemed “an opportunity economy” that calls for $25,000 in down payment assistance for homebuyers and small businesses, a $50,000 tax break, and $6,000 for new parents during the first year of their child’s life.

The Harris campaign said 7,500 people attended, compared to the estimated 6,000 the Trump campaign said attended during his visit Sept. 13.

Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com. Follow Nevada Current on Facebook and X.