Vice President Harris criticized former President Trump on Friday for calling America a “garbage can for the world,” saying he is belittling Americans with his rhetoric.

Trump railed against immigrants coming into the U.S. during a campaign rally Thursday and called the U.S. a “dumping ground” and “garbage can,” noting it was the first time he had used the trash description but calling it “very accurate.” He repeated the line that the U.S. is a “garbage can for the world” Friday during an event in Texas.

“It’s just another example of how he really belittles our country. This is someone who is a former president of the United States, who has a bully pulpit, and this is how he uses it: to tell the rest of the world that somehow the United States of America is ... trash,” Harris told reporters Friday.

“The president of the United States should be someone who elevates discourse and talks about the best of who we are. And invests in the best of who we are,” she said. “Not someone like Donald Trump who is constantly demeaning and belittling who the American people are. America deserves better.”

The vice president has pivoted to bashing Trump while on the campaign trail, making criticism over his rhetoric a main focus of her closing argument.

Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly used disparaging language to describe immigrants, saying that those entering the country illegally are "poisoning the blood" of the country. He has pledged to carry out mass deportations if he is elected, and he has signaled he would revoke protected status for certain groups, such as Haitian migrants.

A New York Times/Siena College poll Friday found that 15 percent of respondents said immigration, Trump’s signature issue, is the most important issue to them this cycle, which is up from 12 percent in the last poll. Trump also led Harris by 11 points when asked whom voters trust on immigration.