Kamala Harris underscored her tough stance on migration during a long-awaited trip Friday to the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona that was aimed at covering up political weakness and rebutting Donald Trump’s central campaign message that Democrats are going easy on immigration enforcement.

“The United States is a sovereign nation and I believe we have a responsibility to establish rules on our border and enforce them, and I take that responsibility very seriously,” Harris said in Douglas, Arizona, on Friday evening after visiting the border.

Her message reflects a broader approach to immigration that reflects the changing national mood, heralding a new landscape in the coming years in which the imposition of tighter border controls is likely to be central regardless of which party wins the 2024 election.

“The priorities must be to control the border. The numbers are currently very low, but there is no guarantee that they will stay that way. “And there can be no assurance that the courts will not ultimately overturn the administration’s executive orders,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., the party’s lead negotiator on a major border security package earlier this year, told NBC News in an interview. “I think it will be easier for us to make other law reforms if we prioritize border security.”

Harris’ speech marked a shift from 2019, when she took more left-leaning positions as a presidential candidate, including supporting a call to reduce illegal border crossings to a civil rather than a criminal violation and opposing Obama-era deportations.

On Friday, Harris showed a different side of herself: a tough prosecutor who faced down international gangs and organized crime as California’s top law enforcement officer.

“The issue of border security is not new to me. I was the prosecutor general of a border state for two terms. I have seen the violence and chaos that transnational criminal organizations cause, as well as the heartbreak and loss that result from the spread of their illicit drugs, Harris said, adding that prosecuting such gangs will be a priority if elected president.

She also emphasized that 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 become a part of American history. That’s why we must reform our immigration system to ensure it operates in an orderly manner, that it is humane and that it makes our country stronger.”

Harris’ immediate goal is to signal to moderate voters that she will aggressively enforce the law and control migration.

After wrestling with the issue, Democrats finally found what they consider a winning message: reminding voters that former President Trump pressured Republicans to reject a bipartisan bill that would have imposed stricter border controls and made it harder to obtain asylum.

Harris said that, unlike Trump, she would support bipartisan solutions “because I know that the international gangs crossing the border, trafficking weapons, drugs and people don’t care who someone voted for in the last election.”

Trump still leads in border management – ​​but to a lesser extent

The GOP advantage has narrowed since the bill was blocked in May.

In January, an NBC News poll found Trump had a 35-point lead over President Joe Biden among voters asked who they trusted more to “secure the border and control immigration.” In a new NBC News poll this month, Trump led Harris by 21 points. The poll showed a stark gender split: Trump led Harris on the border issue by 41 points among men, by 52 points among white men and by 13 points among nonwhite men.

“Republicans’ political advantage on the border has diminished as their position has been exposed. They don’t want to solve the problem, they just want to complain about it, and the failure to support a bipartisan border bill ultimately hurts them,” said Murphy, who negotiated the bill with Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz.

“I’m proud that Democrats, led by the vice president, are finally talking about border security,” he said. “The American people care about this issue and they want a party that will do something about it, not just talk about it, and Democrats are currently the only party that has a plan to fix the border. Republicans don’t have a plan.”

Harris said she would return this bill and push for its passage if elected president.

“Not only will I restore the Border Security Act that Donald Trump rejected, but I will do more to secure our border and reduce illegal border crossings,” she said Friday. “I will take further action to keep the border closed between ports of entry. People who cross our borders illegally will be detained, removed and barred from re-entry for five years.”

Lankford, however, said reviving this year’s border security agreement is not that simple and blamed Harris for being absent on the matter.

“She also said that she and Joe were working on this together with the conservatives and she was never involved in a single negotiation,” Lankford said in an interview. “Four months of negotiations – she or her staff were never involved in a single negotiation.”

“Now he wants to raise the issue next year. Of course, there are parts that expire, like the border wall money,” said Lankford, the top Republican on a key Senate border subcommittee. “There is no bill that you can just pick up and roll over to the next year because it just doesn’t work that way. I think she knows it. This is a good argument, but mechanically it is not true.

Harris campaign spokespeople did not immediately comment on Lankford’s claim.

Key Democrat says border is key

Changing politics will impact immigration policy regardless of the election outcome. Trump promises mass deportations of millions of people in the U.S. if elected, illegally. Harris proposes balancing stricter law enforcement with creating new legal pathways for citizens to become Americans.

Democrats’ hopes of granting permanent residency to millions of people in the U.S. illegally have all but faded after setbacks under several Democratic troikas over the past decade and a half. Harris continues to call for legal status for at least some immigrants, but her campaign declined to answer when asked whether she wanted to normalize the status of all of the estimated 11 million undocumented people in the U.S. or smaller populations such as young “Dreamers.” ” brought to the country as children.

Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Congressional Latino Caucus, noted that this year’s border bill, which CHC members deemed far too generous to the right, was negotiated because Republicans held Ukraine funding “hostage.” “

“There is no way to know if the border bill will come back, right? If he were to come back, I hope there will be a conversation with the Congressional Latino Caucus about this bill,” she said, arguing that a review would be useful. “It really is a border bill. In my opinion, this is not an immigration bill. I would like to see more. I would like to see pathways to citizenship added where real negotiations are taking place.”

However, Murphy said the legalization element will have to take a backseat in the near future.

“I certainly support a path to citizenship, but I think you probably have to first show the American people that you’re committed to a rules-based immigration system,” Murphy said. “And that will make it easier for people living in the shadow economy to find a path.”