Claiming ‘Extreme Power’ of President, Trump Says He Will Close US Border by Fiat

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign said Tuesday that her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, would be "unchecked" and "unhinged" in a potential second term, pointing to his comments at the roundtable with Latino leaders in which he said he would use "extreme power" to close the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump suggested that he opposed a bipartisan border bill earlier this year—and pushed Republicans in Congress to vote against it—because it was a "phony bill" that was unnecessary to stop immigrants from entering the U.S. through the southern border.

A president can unilaterally close the border, the Republican nominee claimed.

"It was a horrible bill, stupid bill," said Trump. "It's called extreme power. You have extreme power [as president]... You say, 'Close the border,' and the border's closed. That's it, very simple."

Harris has said she would push for the passage of the bipartisan legislation, which would expand capacity for migrant detention, restrict standards for asylum claims, and allow the president to shut down the border if crossings by undocumented immigrants reached a certain threshold. Republicans rejected the bill, saying it would worsen a so-called "border catastrophe."

Rights advocates have called on Democrats to push for sufficient funding to process asylum claims, resources for programs to assist unaccompanied children, international assistance to reduce forced migration, and other "effective, fair, and compassionate" solutions.

Trump's pledge to use "extreme power" to shut down the border, said Charles Idelson of National Nurses United, "is what the Supreme Court has created by overthrowing the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence."

"A second Trump term poses too big a risk for America to take."

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this summer in a case involving Trump that a president is entitled to "absolute immunity" for "official acts" taken while in office.

The former president said late last year that if he wins a second term, he would be a dictator only on "Day One" of his presidency, allowing him to unilaterally shut down the southern border and expand fossil fuel drilling.

"A second Trump term poses too big a risk for America to take," said Matt Corridoni, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign. "An unhinged and unstable Donald Trump wants to purge the government of public servants to replace them with loyalists who will help him pursue unchecked 'extreme power' that he could use against his fellow Americans, who he calls 'the enemy from within.' This has major consequences for Americans' lives and freedoms."