Republicans show exactly how they’d run against Kamala Harris

Republicans on Tuesday made clear how they’re running against Vice President Kamala Harris, and it involves calling her the “border czar.” A lot.

A range of speakers on the second day of the Republican National Convention went after Harris, who some Democrats argue is the party’s best option if President Joe Biden drops out of the 2024 race.

She was also Biden’s appointed lead working with Central America to deter migration at the southern border, prompting Republicans’ “border czar” moniker.

Former Rep. Mike Rogers, running for U.S. Senate in Michigan, said he had “never seen anything like the Biden-Harris open border policy.”

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) accused the pair of opening the border “to terrorists, to criminals.”

And Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton accused Biden and Harris of welcoming “a third world invasion.”

It was a forceful attempt to define Harris’ image in the public eye, taking advantage of the bright lights of the primetime RNC stage. And it serves as a potent reminder that the Democratic field in the wake of Biden’s dismal debate performance remains somewhat uncertain. If Biden remains the nominee, going after Harris now helps undermine the ticket anyway — and if she somehow rises to replace him, they’ve laid the early foundation for their future attacks.

“After tanking the bipartisan border deal, Donald Trump has resorted to lying about the vice president’s record,” said Brian Fallon, a Harris campaign spokesperson. “As a former district attorney and attorney general, she has stood up to fraudsters and felons like Trump her entire career. Trump’s lies won’t stop her from continuing to prosecute the case against him on the biggest issues in this race.”

Immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border were frequent topics during the night of the convention dubbed “Make America Safe Once Again.” More than a dozen lawmakers and other speakers sought to tie border policy to a range of other problems, including fentanyl overdoses, unrest in major cities and specific crimes committed by undocumented immigrants — a common theme espoused by the party.

Much of their anger was directed at Biden, with speakers painting a dark picture of a country in decline. Florida Sen. Rick Scott said he has a “nightmare” that in a second Biden administration, the southern border will be “erased” and that Biden will fly so many “illegals into our country that the cartel started getting frequent flier miles.” Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake said Arizona’s border has been handed over to cartels and criminals, and that deadly drugs are “pouring in” and killing children. Wisconsin Senate candidate Eric Hovde said Biden has allowed “criminals and terrorists to enter our country.”

It was a page taken directly from former President Donald Trump’s playbook, tying immigration to crime and arguing that Biden’s policies have created an unsafe America. It’s a message that frequently dominates Trump’s campaign rallies and one that’s expected to be a key part of the GOP nominee’s speech on Thursday.

And Harris was also a favorite target, with speaker after speaker calling her the “border czar.”

The term, anointed by the GOP, is a reference to how Biden named Harris the lead  on immigration issues back in 2021.

Harris’ actual immigration assignment was more narrowly tailored than the sweeping title bestowed by the GOP suggests. She was given a diplomatic mission to address the “root causes” driving migration from three Central American countries — Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala — with the aim of easing the economic pressures and political strife that was prompting so many people to flee.

That distinction mattered little to Republicans. Biden had put her in charge, and Republicans quickly made her the face of the administration’s struggles to contain the glut of asylum seekers at the southern border.

And though her visits with Latin American leaders helped build her foreign policy experience, Harris did herself few favors with her public handling of the assignment. Her work was overshadowed by bungled media appearances and she faced backlash from the left for her clumsy “Don’t come” plea to Guatemalans considering crossing the border.

Conservatives had a field day with her 2021 interview with NBC’s Lester Holt after he pressed her about why she hadn’t visited the U.S.-Mexico border.

“And I’ve never been to Europe,” she replied, a remark many criticized as glib.

Within a month of the interview, Harris made her first visit to the border.

After border crossings still surged to historic levels in 2023, Democrats made significant legislative concessions backing a bipartisan border security bill that would have tightened asylum standards and shut down the southern border to illegal crossings if encounters surpassed a certain threshold. But the bill failed to gain traction after Trump called on Republican lawmakers to oppose it .

Even as border crossings have dipped and Biden signed an executive order to clamp down on migrants seeking asylum at the border, Republicans have seized upon the issue to go on the attack against Biden, referring to the flow of migrants seeking asylum as an “invasion” and promising to bring back Trump’s promised border wall.

Tuesday night indicated it was an argument they feel very comfortable applying to Harris, too.

Dave McCormick, who is challenging Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, slammed what he called the “Biden-Harris-Casey” border policy — and called Harris the “border czar.” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) accused Biden and Harris of wanting to allow “illegals” to vote.

Their message was bolsted by speeches from what the RNC has designated “everyday Americans” who fit the theme, including the family of Rachel Morin, who was raped and killed in 2023. A man who entered the country illegally from El Salvador was arrested for her murder in June.

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who long argued during the primary campaign that supporting Biden was akin to calling for “President Harris,” pointed to the border issue in a broader dig at a potential Harris presidency.

“Kamala had one job. One job,” Haley said. “And that was to fix the border. Now imagine her in charge of the entire country.”

Anusha Mathur and Madison Fernandez contributed to this report.