That. And that is tonight's reid out. Go toby. Good evening from new york. I'm chris hayes, any minute now, vice president kamala harris will speak at a campaign event in the border town of douglas arizona. Right now you see the attorney general. We're going to bring that to you live as it happens. This is kamala harris' first visit to the border as a candidate. She will announce she plans to keep president biden's hard line crack down on asylum seekers in place. In fact, she may even make it more difficult to lift those restrictions. It is clearly a calculated move by her campaign. That will be a high issue. It consistently ranked among the top issues facing voters. Harris will also likely go after donald trump directly for his goal on killing the bipartisan bill that was hammered out earlier this year. She will decry trump's failures and his recent efforts to kill bipartisan solutions to it. She'll say the american people care more about border security than playing political games. It's worth noting, border crossings are down wildly across the board. About 70% since last august. That's according to the numbers that everyone relies on which is the customs and border protections. Harris has managed to narrow the game in polling about who is better equipped to handle the voting. Trump handles the lead but it's down 14 points since january. Hinojosa is founder of futuro media. She's been covering the border and life at the border. And fernando, they're joining me now. Fernando i'm going to go to you first about the politics. The politics here are straightforward. You ask people what are the big issues. The border or immigration which have been confided in ways that i think are terrible but okay. Tend to rank very high. You don't want to be 30 points down on salients issue. How do you see the riskreward politically here in today's address? well, chris. It's absolutely smart politics. Kamala harris has under as many nfl fans have over the years you don't win by playing the prevent defense. She's going on offense on this issue not only because it's smart politics and the polls suggest she's more than cut trump's lead in this immigration in half. She also has the moral authority on this issue because of what trump did over the summer where he himself sabotaged what would have been the most troubled system. It also shows kamala harris is not afraid to in essence be and do what needs to be done on this issue that a lot of people are concerned about. I think speaks to what the campaign is seeing internally that there is ground to be made up here and all of those points that they can make up in states like arizona, nevada. Two areas very close to the border that's only going to pay off dividends for kamala harris. Maria, obviously, i think as someone who has spent so much time reporting on this. It probably drives you, it drives me. The physical place of the border with immigration in general. And the way that narratives around that get created. All that said, what are you looking for substantively here because it signal what is harris signaled about the campaign. What would i like to see. I think what you would like to see is different than what you're expecting or looking for. The problem is you cannot out trump trump. So what trump has done in our country right is to push the whole conversation about immigration to this crazy point where someone it's normalized to be talking about immigrants eating people's pets in a country would not let anyone take their pet, let's be clear. Let's just be clear. But i think that's somehow part of the conversation. What i think she needs to do, okay let's get back to the center. Just be progressive which she needs to say is, there is no crisis here at the border. We just saw the numbers, the numbers are down. Therefor she should switch the conversation. She should say, let's not talk about mass deportation. How that's going to hurt you. Latino and latina voters. Even though you like trump, this is going to destroy your family. Remember when i. C. E. Was everywhere in our schools, and hospitals and churches. Remember when trump first went into office. That's not me. That's not me. This is part of navigating what is a difficult. The numbers are the numbers on the polling right. Whether through propaganda largely and through actual numbers. In december we saw large numbers of border crossings. We saw folks seeking asylum in cities across the country. It was a real thing. It wasn't a fiction of people's imagination. But to talk about the realness of whatever challenges there are in terms of the current asylum system. And the broken immigration system and also not just, end up in a situation where you're chasing trump. Right. Fernand. There is a place for democrats to own this message that has to be both and. Which is like, you can talk about the border. You can talk about the numbers going down. But by and large americans still support immigration. They still know immigrants in their lives that they feel fondly about. That they don't want to see made a mockery of or have their lives ruined. And there does seem to be a rhetorical space for a democratic candidate like kamala harris to send that message: there does and there is. And to her credit, i actually think she is threading that very tight needle when it comes to the issue. She is pointed out trump's draconian almost concentration style camp round them up and deport 11 million people. She's also made comment about what that would do to the american economy which is simply devastate and destroy it. She's also defended the history of asylum laws in this country, chris. We have that tradition which my family themselves and millions of other families around in the nation today have benefited from. But as you said a moment ago, there was a problem at the border. We were having record crossings. It was the biden harris administration which now brought that back to a more manageable level and what is kamala harris really saying? i'm going to add border security so we have a more efficient process. I'm going to prosecute the gangs. The criminal gangs to the extent there are some bad actors. Not a lot but some. Maybe getting through the border. And at the same time doing this so we can try to get our hands on the fentanyl crisis. There's a humanitarian approach that has been the ethos culture which kamala harris has supported. Who better than a former prosecutor with a history of thisish shaoup to try to make that case successfully. And i think she has done so. We have the vice president approaching the stage right now. She'll be speaking about immigration and the border there in douglas, arizona. Let's take a listen. Good afternoon, everyone. Hi. Good afternoon. Can we please applaud teresa and her extraordinary courage. Please, can we applaud. Extraordinary courage. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Please have a seat everyone. Thank you. It's good to be back in arizona. It is good to be back in arizona. Thank you all. Thank you so very much. Thank you, thank you i appreciate. Thank you so very much. I just want for a moment speak about teresa. We had some time together backstage. And you know. I think that, in moments of crisis such as the fentanyl crisis. There are people who through their suffering and their pain rise with courage in such a selfless way. To be a voice for others with the anticipation and the hope and the hard work of hoping that their story will be the reason other people don't have that story. And, you sharing your story about jacob and your advocacy on why we have to stop this scourge is important. And once again, i applaud teresa and i know we all do. And our need to stop this issue is one of the reasons that we are all here together today. I also want to thank the extraordinary elected officials who are here. Senator mark kelly came with me. And his extraordinary wife gabby giffords traveled with me from washington, d. C. To be here with me. And senator giffords has been talking to me about this extraordinary work. Thank you for your work. Attorney general chris mays. She is, you know one of i'm going to talk a bit about it in a minute. But some of the work that i have done in my career as attorney general, and watching her do the work that she has done as attorney general really does emphasize the importance of having the right leader at the right time, in the right place. And that's who she is. Mayor hewish i thank you for the warm welcome. We spent some time together. You shared with me the needs of your community. And i thank you for your leadership as well. And to all the elected and community leaders today thank you for taking the time out of your busy lives to be here this afternoon before i begin, i do want to say a few words about hurricane helene. I spoke this morning with our fema administrator chris well and president biden and i of course will continue to monitor the situation closely. We have mobilized more than 1,500 federal personnel to support those communities that have been impacted. We have food, water and generators that are ready for deployment. And. We are working to restore power for millions of people who currently are experiencing outages and i just want to stress and for the press that is here, to those who are watching, the storm continues to be dangerous. And deadly. And lives have been lost and the risk of flooding still remains high. So i continue to urge everyone to please continue to follow guidance from your local officials until we get past this moment. So thank you all and and now i'll speak about in particular the people who are here today and why we are gathered here together today. So arizona i think you all know and this is why you are here. There are consequential issues at stake in this election and one is the security of our border. The united states is a sovereign nation. I believe we have a duty to set rules at our border and to enforce them. And i take that responsibility very seriously. We are also a nation of immigrants. The united states has been enriched by generations of people who have come from every corner of the world to contribute to our country and to become part of the american story. So we must reform our immigration system to ensure that it works in an orderly way. That it is humane and that it makes our country stronger. So i have just come from visiting the border and the port of entry in douglas. I spoke with dedicated agents from border patrol and customs officers who ever day see the over flow of commercial traffic through the port. These men and women who work there and at other places along our southern border, help keep our nation secure. And they need more resources to do their jobs. Which is why we have and are in the process of investing half of million dollars to modernize and advance the port of entry here in douglas. And why last december i helped raise the rate of over time pay for border agents. And also why i strongly supported the comprehensive border security bill. Written last year as you know by a bipartisan group of senators including one of the most conservative members of the united states congress. That bill would have hired 1,400 more agents and officers. It would have paid for 100 inspection machines to detect fentanyl that is killing tens of thousands of americans every year. It would have allowed us to more quickly and effectively remove those who come here illegally and it would have been increased the number of immigration judges and asylum officers. It was the strongest border security bill we have seen in decades. It was endorsed by the border patrol union and it should be in effect today. Producing results in realtime right now for our country. But donald trump tanked it. He picked up the phone and called some friends in congress and said stop the bill. Because you see he prefers to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem. And the american people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games and their personal political future. And so even though donald trump tried to sabotage the border security bill it is my pledge to you that as president of the united states, i will bring it back up and proudly sign it into law and let me say, the issue of border security is not a new issue to me. I have was attorney general of a border state for two terms. I saw the violence, and chaos that transnational criminal organizations cause. And the heartbreak and loss from the spread of their elicit drugs. I walked through tunnels that traffickers used to smuggle contraband into the united states. I've seen tunnels with walls as smooth as the walls of your living room complete with lighting and airconditioning making very clear that it is about an enterprise that is making a whole lot of money in the trafficking of guns, drugs and human beings. And my knowledge on how they work comes from the fact that i have prosecuted transnational criminals who traffic in gun, drugs and human beings. My team broke up a heroine trafficking ring. We took down a gang working with the sinaloa cartel to traffic methamphetamine into the united states. We seized millions of dollars worth of cocaine from the guadalajara cartel. And broke up a drug trafficking operation including pill mills and so called recovery centers that were pushing opioids with deadly results. As attorney general of california, it was 10 years ago i brought a bipartisan group of american attorneys general, and led that group to travel to mexico city to meet with mexican attorneys general. To address this issue and in particular to i kraoez intelligence sharing on gang activity. All of which allowed us to prosecute more human traffickers. And i started as attorney general the first comprehensive report in the state of california analyzing transnational criminal organizations and the threat they pose to the economy. So stopping transnational criminal organizations and strengthening our border, is not new to me and it is a long standing priority of mine i have done that work and i will continue to treat it as a priority. When i am elected president of the united states. And it is my pledge to you, understanding how solutions get formed. That i will reach across the aisle and i will embrace common sense and new technologies to get the job done. Because i know, transnational gangs coming across the border could care less who somebody voted for in the last election. They could care less. They've got one goal in mind. And it is therefor critical important that anyone who calls themselves a leader, would work with other leaders for common sense solutions understanding the pain and the suffering that americans are experiencing if we don't work together to fix these problems. And look, transnational gangs one of the things i know about them they are always innovating. So to disrupt them, we must do the same. And that means again working together in realtime. Grounded on finding common sense approaches. Not just about some rhetoric at a rally but actually doing the work of fixing a problem. And as president i won't only bring back the border security bill that donald trump tanked i will do more to secure our border. To reduce illegal border crossings, i will take further action to keep the border closed between ports of entry. Those who cross our borders unlawfully will be apprehended and removed and barred from reentrying for five years. We will pursue for severe criminal charges against repeat violaters. And if someone does not make an asylum request at a legal point of entry, and instead crosses our border unlawfully, they will be barred from receiving asylum. While we understand that many people are desperate to migrate to the united states, our system must be orderly and secure and that is my goal. And that is my goal. Securing our border also means addressing the flow. Of fentanyl into our communities. Fentanyl is a skort on our country. The nature of it as a drug is such that it is highly addictive and it is highly lethal. So much so that using it one time only can be fatal. I have met far too many families parents. Loved ones who have lost a family member, a child. To fentanyl and their grief is heartbreaking. And the devastation caused by fentanyl is being felt from rural communities to big cities. It is impacting every geographic that you choose to talk about. It's a scorch on our community and as a president i will make it my top priority to disrupt the flow of fentanyl coming into the united states. And i know everyone here understands that most of the fentanyl in america comes from two cartels based in mexico. Most often they are smuggling it through vehicles at legal ports of entry like the one i visited today. The fact is, border officers don't have enough resources. And are only able to search a fraction of the vehicles that pass through their check points. This is unacceptable. They need the resources to do their jobs. And as we could have done with that border security bill, i will surge support more personnel, technology. And systems that can detect fentanyl in vehicles. And we will make sure that the ports of entry including airports and sea ports have additional state of the art technology to detect fentanyl and the chemical tools used to make it. I will also double the resources for the department of justice. To extradite and prosecute transnational criminal organizations and the cartels. Yes, i will ensure that we target the entire global fentanyl supply chain because we must materially and sustain pwhreu sustainably disrupt fentanyl coming through our borders. The chemicals are by and large made in china and then shipped to cartels and trafficked right here into the united states. Our administration demanded that china crack down on the companies that make those chemicals. And it has started to happen. But they need to do more. As president i will hold them to their commitment to significantly reduce the flow of precursor chemicals coming from china. And all of this to say, we must tackle this issue from every angle. Because, our highest charge must be to protect the lives of our people. It must be, to understand the pain and to have the courage to know that solutions are at hand if we focus on fixing a problem instead of running on a problem. Running on a problem. And on this issue, writ large we must ensure that our country remains strong and competitive. Which includes fixing our broken immigration system. Let me be clear, i reject the false choice. I reject the false choice that suggests we must either choose between securing our border, or creating a system of immigration that is safe, orderly and humane. We can and we must do both. We must do both. And we need clear legal path ways for people seeking to come into our country. And we must make our current system work better. For example, it can take years for asylum claims to be decided. Well this is a problem we can solve. Including by hiring more asylum officers and expanding processing centers in people's home countries. And as president, i will work with congress to create at long last a path way to citizenship for hard working immigrants who have been here for years. For years. And deserve to have a system that works. I also have in mind our dreamers. I have met i have met with so many of our dreamers throughout my career. They who have grown up in the united states. Were educated here, pay taxes here. Serve in our military and contribute to our communities every day. They are american in every way. But still, they do not have an earned path way to citizenship. And this problem has gone unsolved at this point now for decades. The same goes for farm workers. Who ensure that we have food on our tables and who sustain our agricultural industry and they too have been in legal limbo for years. Because politicians have refused to come together to fix our broken immigration system. We