Trump tries to upstage Harris convention limelight with southern border visit

Former President Donald Trump will attempt to steal the spotlight from Democratic rival Kamala Harris on Thursday with a trip to the southern border hours before the vice president accepts her party’s nomination.

Trump will visit the Arizona border late Thursday morning, part of a weeklong effort by his campaign to keep voters focused on the former president amid the four-day Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

"America is facing our country’s worst border crisis because of border Czar Kamala Harris," the Trump campaign wrote in a post on its website. "Despite nearly 10 million illegal immigrant crossings in the last three and a half years, at least 99 individuals on the terrorist watch list being released into our country, deadly drugs like fentanyl being peddled in by cartels and poisoning American communities, and a huge increase in crime and chaos caused by illegal immigrants — there is no end in sight for Kamala Harris’ border crisis."

Trump will touch down in Cochise County, which sits on the Arizona-New Mexico border, as well as the U.S.-Mexico border. Republican politicians including Sheriff Mark Dannels are expected to be on site with Trump, who is expected to focus his remarks on crimes committed by immigrants who entered the United States illegally by way of the southern border, concerns about the lack of jobs available to Americans, and the fentanyl epidemic, now the No. 1 cause of death in U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 45.

Meanwhile, Trump's running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), will host an immigration event in Valdosta, Georgia, on Thursday at 1 p.m.

Immigration topped voter concerns in the Republican presidential primary earlier this year and continues to be a major issue in the general election. The number of border crossings has dropped precipitously in recent months, down from a record high in December, but the GOP still believes it can win the election by tying Harris to the spike.

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She ran to the left of the Democratic primary field in her 2020 run for president but has since moderated her views.

The Trump event in Arizona is closed to the public and will be livestreamed by media outlets starting at 1:30 p.m. Eastern.