J.D. Vance made his first visit to the border as Donald Trump‘s running mate where he went on the attack against Vice President Kamala Harris as Republicans attempt to paint her as the Biden administration’s failed ‘border czar.’

The Ohio senator and Republican vice presidential nominee made his appearance Thursday morning in Cochise County, AZ as he made a swing through western battleground states including a rally in Glendale, AZ Wednesday night and campaign stops in Nevada. 

His visit to the border comes as Republicans have seized on border security as they go after the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Harris for immigration policies in the Biden administration. 

‘It’s just unbelievable what we’re letting happen at this southern border, and we’re letting it happen because Kamala Harris refuses to do her job,’ Vance said.

Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance during a campaign stop on the southern border in Hereford, AZ on August 1, 2024

The 39-year-old GOP lawmaker claimed ‘it’s not hard to secure the southern border’ and suggested they could ‘implement some common sense policies.’    

During his remarks, Vance called for ending ‘catch-and-release,’ forcing asylum seekers to remain in Mexico and finishing the border wall. 

The Ohio senator did mention ‘reimplementing deportations’ but he did not specifically mention Trump’s push for the mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants. Vance has said in past interviews he supports the policy.

Vance claimed the U.S. effectively has an ‘open border’ and argued it’s what Harris has ‘promised.’

‘Donald Trump and I promise to do exactly the opposite,’ the senator said. He said he was ‘ashamed of what this administration has done.’ 

Vance with Sheriff Robert Watkins of Cochise County, AZ, the president of the National Border Patrol Council Paul Perez and local ranchers on August 1

Republicans have been working to paint Harris as the Biden administration’s ‘border czar’ and tie her to migrants and fentanyl illegally coming into the United States. 

In March 2021, Biden specifically tapped Harris to lead the ‘diplomatic effort’ to  address the root causes of migration. 

Harris traveled to the border in El Paso that June and made trips to Mexico and Guatemala as well as a visit to Honduras in January 2022. Her work resulted in some investments in Central America, but she has not traveled to countries south of the border since 2022. 

Vance said there cannot be effective border policy without someone coordinating all the federal agencies. He claimed Harris was asked to ‘coordinate’ but has ‘done nothing.’

On Monday, the Trump campaign also launched its first attack ads on television against Harris focused on the border to air across six battleground states. 

But the vice president and her campaign have pushed back, arguing Trump with Vance’s help tanked the bipartisan border security bill earlier this year.

Vice President Harris responded directly to GOP attacks over immigration on Tuesday during her rally in Atlanta where she vowed to bring back the bipartisan border security bill. She said Trump talks a ‘big game’ on border security but does not ‘walk the walk’

Harris responded directly to the GOP attacks over the border during her campaign rally in Georgia on Tuesday. 

‘Trump has been talking a big game about securing our border, but he does not walk the walk,’ she said. 

The vice president pledged if elected she would bring back the bipartisan border bill that she said ‘Trump killed’ earlier this year. 

That bill drafted by a bipartisan group of senators included money to increase the number of Border Patrol agents, asylum officers and immigration judges. It would have also included funding to increase detention facility capacities and enhance fentanyl detection.