Today Kamala Harris finally visited the U.S.-Mexico Border, where she spent 3 hours. Harris, accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas arrived at 8:35am, toured the Border Patrol Station and spoke to the press, before leaving at 12:30pm for her hotel room in Los Angeles, where she stayed overnight.
“We are here today to address and to talk about what has brought people to the US border and again to continue to address the root causes that cause people to leave and often flee their home country,” Harris said
“Being in Guatemala, being in Mexico, and talking with Mexico as a partner, frankly on the issue, was about addressing the causes. And then coming to the border at the advice and actually the invitation of the congresswoman, is about looking at the effects of what we have seen happening in Central America, and so I’m glad to be here. This was always the plan to come here,”
Symone Sanders, told reporters Thursday evening that “this administration does not take their cues from Republican criticism, nor from the former President of the United States of America.”
Sanders continued “We have said over a number of different occasions … that she would go to the border. She has been before [as a senator], she would go again. She would go when it was appropriate, [after avoiding it as long as possible] when it made sense. And this trip tomorrow, this timing, is what made sense for the vice president’s schedule, but also, for our partners on the ground,”
“I don’t understand how they decided on El Paso…. Clearly most of the surge is in the Rio Grande Valley.” said Rep. Vicente Gonzalez
Sanders and Psaki both stated El Paso, Texas was chosen because it was “the birthplace of the Trump administration’s family separation policy,”
“The reason why it’s important that she [Kamala] go down, she’s now set up the criteria, having spoken with the president of Mexico and Guatemala, visited the region, to know what we need to do,” Biden told reporters
White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended Harris’ absence from the border during a briefing on Wednesday, saying, “I will also note that I’ve said that when it’s the right time, she will go visit the border.”
As usual, Psaki avoided another question, this time about whether “there was a political calculation in having Harris finally visit the border before Trump” and Abbott’s trip.
“I would say that we have no way to predict what former President Trump will say when he goes to the border,” Psaki responded , adding that the administration’s view is to “assess and take a look at progress that’s been made” and will not “prevent or change what the former president of the United States says when he goes to the border in another couple of days.”
When Kamala Harris arrived in El Paso, she was greeted by Fox News’ Peter Doocy who asked why right now was the time to make her first trip to the border.
“It’s not my first trip, I’ve been to the border many times,” Kamala screeched back, referring to visits she made to the border as a Senator. she continued “Because as I’ve long said, I said back in March I was going to come to the border so this is not a new plan, but the reality of it is we have to deal with the causes and we have to deal with the effects,”. The “causes”—in reference to the entire Biden Administration—are now the ones attempting to deal with the “effects”
One of the reasons she may have decided “now is the right time” to visit the border could have been Rep. Ashley Hinson, on Thursday introduced legislation that would halt taxpayer money from being used to fund the travel expenses of Vice President Kamala Harris until she visited the southern border and issues a report on how to solve the crisis there.
“It’s unacceptable that after nearly two months as the Administration’s so-called point person on the border crisis, Vice President Kamala Harris still hasn’t visited the Southern Border and heard directly from the brave law enforcement officers about what they are facing on the ground. As illegal immigration has surged, cartels are emboldened, and record levels of fentanyl are pouring into our country, this crisis continues to be out of sight and out of mind for this Administration,” said Congresswoman Ashley Hinson. “This bill will stop Vice President Harris from traveling internationally on the taxpayers’ dime until she visits the Southern Border and reports to the American people on the steps the Administration is taking to address this crisis.”
“We have an absolute crisis at the border, and Vice President Harris was appointed to lead the administration’s efforts on the border crisis, but it’s been 56 days, and in that time she hasn’t been to the border once,” Rep. Ashley Hinson stated to Fox News on Wednesday. “She hasn’t held a news conference on the administration’s efforts for a plan, and I think it’s time she does that.”
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