Tucson Standard

U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Tucson) said he voted to "condemn" Vice President Kamala Harris "for her failures" in maintaining border security during the Biden-Harris administration. 

"Just voted to condemn VP Harris for her failures as 'Border Czar,'" Ciscomani wrote in a post on X. "With nearly 10 million migrant encounters nationwide since Biden took office, the proof is in the numbers: the inaction from the White House has created utter chaos at the border."

"This is what we've been talking about for four years, this is not just an opinion," he said. "The proof is there, the numbers are there. This is the top issue for voters today and also, it's where they have utterly failed."

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, endorsed in an X post by outgoing President Biden to replace him as presidential candidate, said in 2017 that “undocumented immigrants” are not criminals.

“As California’s Attorney General, I know what a crime looks like,” then-U.S. Sen. Harris (R-Calif.) posted on X. “Let me tell you that an undocumented immigrant is not a criminal.”

Biden announced on March 24, 2021 his appointment of Harris “to lead efforts to stamp migration across the U.S.-Mexico border.”

"This new surge we’re dealing with now started with the last administration, but it’s our responsibility to deal with it humanely and to stop what’s happening," said Biden. "This increase has been consequential, but the vice president’s agreed – among the multiple other things I have her leading and I appreciate it – agreed to lead our diplomatic effort and work with those nations to accept the returnees and enhance migration enforcement at their borders."

Since Harris’ appointment, the “surge” of illegal aliens crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, particularly the Arizona portion, has grown worse.

"The so-called ‘border czar’ is completely delusional and not living in reality," Ariz. State Sen. Janae Shamp (R-Surprise) told the Grand Canyon Times. "Anyone who defies our laws and enters our country illegally is a criminal, period."

"Unfortunately, we’ve had millions of these criminals cross into Arizona from Mexico during the Biden/Harris Administration, costing our state billions in taxpayer dollars each year and costing our nation countless innocent lives from the horrific crimes being carried out as a direct result of our wide-open border," Shamp. "Fortunately for Arizona, our voters will have the opportunity to secure the border this November, and I’m looking forward to some sanity and safety being reinstated within our communities.”

There have been 406,441 total encounters in the Tucson Sector during fiscal year 2024, reported U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), with 225,725 of these encounters being from citizens of Mexico, 75,610 from Guatemala, 3,096 from Honduras, 2,892 from El Salvador, and 99,118 from citizens from other countries.

During fiscal year 2024 to date, CBP has arrested 35,178 illegal aliens who have previous criminal convictions or who are wanted by law enforcement.

13.828 of these arrests have been made by the U.S. Border Patrol, and 21,350 of these arrests have been made by the CBP’s Office of Field Operations. The CBP’s 2024 fiscal year runs from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024.

“Kamala Harris fully owns the Biden-Harris-Mayorkas failure at the border," Steve Cortes, president of the League of American Workers, told Grand Canyon Times. "If anything, as shown by her illogical quotes about criminal trespassers into America, Kamala is even more radical than Joe.”

The Tucson Standard reported on July 1 an analysis of arrests of illegal aliens in the month of June, which included arrests of rapists, murders, and sex criminals.

Biden’s appointment of Harris to head his administration’s border effort came almost exactly two months after Biden signed a "Proclamation on the Termination Of Emergency With Respect To The Southern Border Of The United States And Redirection Of Funds Diverted To Border Wall Construction."

This order, signed on Biden’s very first day in office, said the Trump Administration's declaration of a national emergency at the southern border was "unwarranted" and paused all funds for the construction of the U.S-Mexico border wall begun under President Trump.

An American Greatness poll of Arizona voters released late last month found 59% of the state’s voters said the Biden Administration isn’t doing enough to stem the flow of illegal aliens across the border.

While that poll was taken before Biden’s announcement that he was stepping down from the campaign, Harris was in charge of the administration’s border effort.