Transcript of Gov. Pritzker on immigration and Trump targeting Harris on border

Tonight, Republicans zeroing in on Kamala Harris and the border. We have a secure border.

Oh, boy. Kamala lies about the border. She lies about higher prices. Kamala lies a lot.

It comes as even Democrats are urging Harris to visit the Southern border, something that she has done once as vice President.

If I were counseling her, I'd say, Yeah, let's make a trip down there and get that over with. Should she do what Trump is doing, go and visit the border?

I think that would be helpful. Out front now, the Democratic governor, J. B. Pritzker of Illinois. He has, of course, seen the effects of the border crisis firsthand. At least 47,000 migrants have come to Chicago seeking asylum in the last two years alone. And governor, I really appreciate your time. So your two colleagues, I played there, Democratic congressmen, Jerry Connolly of Virginia, and Dan Kildee, Democratic congressman from the state of Michigan. They both say, go ahead. She needs to go. Just do it. Get it over with. Rip the a bandaid off. Do you think vice President Harris should make a trip to the Southern border and do it soon?

Well, the important thing is that she ought to be addressing the issues at the border, which, by the way, she and President Biden have been. And we've seen the effect of that in Chicago. When Donald Trump told Republicans to walk away from the Republican proposed bill that had bipartisan support for border security, that's a moment when we could have given up. But no, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris came out with a set of policies and executive orders that have helped a lot. Now, you can't complete the job until you get Congress on board with comprehensive immigration reform or border security bill. Kamala Harris said at the convention, she will sign that bill. You send that bill to her desk and she will sign it. I think that we've got a real message on immigration and whether she goes to the border or not, that's what people want to All right.

So obviously, all of this took time. And when the bill failed, then months went by, then an executive order. And over this time, governor, you spoke out because you have been on the front lines of what this means as migrants have moved into many cities, including yours in Chicago. You specifically said that the administration's response, the lack of action was, quote, untenable. Now, of course, Vice President Harris, as Vice President, the most senior person in the Biden administration, tasked with border and migrant-related issues. But she did only visit the border once as vice president. About six hours is what she spent on the ground in El Paso. Do you think that has made her vulnerable now?

Well, look, you don't have to be there to know there is a problem at the border that needs to be addressed in general. This is a 40-year problem. Republicans and Democrats have been unwilling to get together on border control and on comprehensive immigration reform. Joe Biden tried to get people together to do something about it. In fact, he campaigned on it, and Republicans refused, and then finally put a border security bill on the table, a Republican-written border security bill. Look, whether you're there or not I mean, of course, visiting the border is one thing to do to draw attention to it. But the most important thing that she can do is have a policy that will actually make a difference. That's what she proposed signing when she was up there on stage giving her acceptance speech.

Obviously, Trump's campaign and Super PAC have been hitting her on this issue. They've been hitting her on the border. They've also been hitting her on the economy. Trump himself, though, has not done as much of that, governor. He's actually resorted, in many instances, just to personal insult. Here he is just today.

Why doesn't she do a couple of question and why doesn't she do something like I'm doing right now? She can't talk. We can't have another dummy as a president, okay? She's not a smart person.

Now, governor, Trump prides himself on his political instincts. So he obviously thinks talking like this is going to work. Do you think it will?

You know, this is a guy, Donald Trump, who sits around all day watching Fox News and doesn't actually do much. He hasn't done many of these events, these major addresses, over the course of his campaign. It's only now that it appears that he's either even or behind that he now is complaining he's got to go out and do some work. He's basically saying, Kamala Harris needs to do more. The truth is that she's answered questions along the way. You've seen her do that when she's getting on and off of Air Force 2 or a helicopter or moving from one place to another. Has she done a sit-down interview since... By the way, she only got the nomination the other day and has only been the prospective nominee for about 30 days. Does she need to sit down for an interview? Of course. They've said they'll do that.

All right. Well, I appreciate your time, Governor Pritzker, as always.

Thank you.