The White House continues to back Vice President Kamala Harris as border czar despite a surge of undocumented immigration at the southern border.
Since Harris and President Joe Biden took office, almost 2.5 million migrants have been arrested at the southern border, or about 180,000 per month. Late in the Trump administration, the figure was less than 40,000 per month.
BIDEN DOESN’T NEED TITLE 42 TO STOP THE BORDER CRISIS — HE NEEDS ‘REMAIN IN MEXICO’
“Does the president still have confidence that the vice president can get to the bottom of the root causes of migration?” a reporter asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki during Wednesday’s briefing.
“He absolutely does,” Psaki responded. “And he’s grateful for her work in doing exactly that.”
Migrant encounters have risen 28% since March 2021, when Harris got the assignment.
Psaki pointed to various agreements that have been reached to try to address the root causes of migration, such as a bilateral immigration agreement with Costa Rica outlining a shared commitment to managing migrant flows and a partnership with Mexico to stem what she called “irregular migration.”
“Addressing root causes means working with countries in the region to take steps to have regular partnerships and be able to have people sent back to the region as needed,” Psaki said.
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The Biden administration has attracted controversy for its pending decision to end Title 42, a pandemic-related policy whereby the U.S. Customs and Border Protection immediately expels all noncitizens seeking asylum at ports of entry and those who crossed illegally between the ports are sent back into Mexico.
Harris has proven a controversial choice for border czar, with a group of sheriffs calling for her to lose the title and reports alleging that she doesn’t want the job.
