Several months ago, President Joe Biden put Vice President Kamala Harris in charge of the administration's efforts to find a solution to the ongoing crisis at the southern border. Until earlier this week, Harris worked hard to avoid her responsibilities, instead insisting that her job is to determine the "root causes" of the surge in immigration, such as poverty and extremely high crime rates in Central and South America.
But since she returned from her trip, officials of the White House are left "perplexed" by the Vice President's performance at her very first foreign policy trip under the Biden administration.
Harris returned from her trip to Guatemala and Mexico on Wednesday. The trip was intended to address the “root causes” of illegal immigration, but the tour ultimately drew criticism from both sides of the aisle in Washington. NBC News also released an interview with Harris in the middle of her trip in which she fumbled an answer on why she has yet to visit the U.S.-Mexico border.
CNN: White House is “perplexed” by Kamala Harris’ inability to answer simple questions pic.twitter.com/TrbNEScnx6
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 9, 2021
Harris met with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, both of whom have blamed the Biden administration’s policies for the surge in migration.
Harris has announced various efforts aimed at stemming the flow of migrants, such as training local law enforcement to investigate transnational crimes and offering hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 vaccine doses.
The Vice President did promise to visit the border "soon" during a Tuesday press briefing.
“Yes, I will,” Harris replied to a question from reporters. “And I have before. Listen, anybody, especially if you’re from California you know, I’ve spent a lot of time on the border – both going there physically and aware of the issues. But the reality of it is that we need to prioritize what’s happening at the border and we have to prioritize why people are going to the border.”
The Biden administration has reportedly requested $861 million in aid dor Central and South American countries. However, in the past, no amount of money has ever been enough to decrease border crossings.
