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WHY HARRIS DOESN'T GO TO THE BORDER. Republicans are asking why Vice President Kamala Harris hasn't traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border to see the growing migrant crisis first-hand. On a recent trip to the border in Mission, Texas, a group of Republican lawmakers repeatedly called on Harris to visit.
After all, the vice president is in charge of at least some critical parts of the border issue. On March 24, President Joe Biden said that he had asked Harris "to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries…that are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border."
One might think Harris would want to see the problem for herself — especially after the Biden administration's so-called "border czar," Roberta Jacobson, announced she is quitting at the end of the month. Jacobson claims she always planned to work just for the president's first 100 days. In announcing her abrupt departure, Jacobson told the New York Times that the border "policy direction is so clearly right for our country."
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It was an absolutely risible statement, given what is happening at the border. But the administration continues to downplay the crisis. And Harris has not only not gone to the border, she has announced no plans to go there anytime soon. When she was asked on March 22 whether she planned to visit the border, Harris answered, "Not today." She then laughed and said, "But I have before and I'm sure I will again."
But what if Harris did visit the border? Would she go to the bridge near Mission, Texas where migrants arrive, day and night, after crossing the Rio Grande? No one in the U.S. government tries to stop the crossings. Instead, officials have set up a makeshift processing center where migrants sit on benches for hours waiting to be taken to the dangerously overcrowded Donna detention center.
Would Harris visit the Donna facility? There the vice president could talk to the thousands of migrants stuffed into the center for days, and sometimes more than a week. Or perhaps Harris could go to the nearby McAllen, Texas airport, where with little or no screening the U.S. government is putting migrants on airliners to cities and towns all around the country.
Of course, that is why Harris is not going to the border. A visit would only serve to highlight some of the Biden administration's most serious failures. What administration official would want to do that?
Harris used to be interested in such issues. In 2019, when she was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, Harris joined other candidates in protesting outside a detention center in Homestead, Florida where Trump administration officials had brought children caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The Democratic candidates were not allowed to enter the facility. Now that she is vice president, Harris could certainly get an inside look at the Donna center. She would certainly see the kind of conditions she protested less than two years ago.
But now, Harris is in a different position. She is in charge, or partially in charge, of a failing policy. Sooner or later, she will probably have to visit the border. Perhaps she can avoid the obvious examples of the administration's failures. But for now, the vice president appears to have other things to do.
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