Vice President Kamala Harris said the Biden administration “inherited a tough situation” at the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday.
Harris, likely referring to the policies of former President Donald Trump, said previous decisions worked against a “functional and humane immigration system.”
“Our administration — it is important to be clear — is working to build a fair and a functional and a humane immigration system,” Harris said during her first trip to the border since she assumed office on Jan. 20. “We feel very strongly about that, and as you know, we inherited a tough situation. In fact, right here in El Paso was the launch of the child separation policy.”
HARRIS BRISTLES AT BORDER QUESTION, INSISTS IT’S NOT HER ‘FIRST TRIP’
In addressing the “root causes” of the border crisis, Kamala Harris blames the Trump administration.
“We inherited a tough situation…In five months we’ve made progress.” pic.twitter.com/ey34zliaUh
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 25, 2021
She faulted prior policies for “inhumane” housing conditions and said her team has “made a lot of progress” in fixing the border crisis.
“We have looked at a system where people have been housed in inhumane conditions over the last many years — an asylum system that has been broken. … In five months, we’ve made a lot of progress, but there’s still more work to be done.”
Unprecedented numbers of migrants, particularly unaccompanied minors, have flooded the U.S.-Mexico border since the beginning of 2021 and after President Joe Biden reversed immigration policies of the Trump administration.
For the month of May, Border Patrol reported observing more than 180,000 attempted illegal crossings in the United States — a record high. The total was up from 178,622 in April and 172,331 in March.
Since the fiscal year 2021 began in October 2020, 929,868 people have been encountered unlawfully trying to enter the U.S. from Mexico, with more than 459,000 in the first five months of 2020.
The Biden administration has also faced backlash regarding housing conditions for unaccompanied migrant children after photos showed overcrowding in a facility in Donna, Texas. The minors, many of whom appeared to be sharing a tent with dozens of others, were seen lying on mats with space blankets while facing a small television.
The tents hold up to 260 people, but one particular dormitory was allegedly home to 400 migrants at the time of the picture, said Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar.
Harris arrived in El Paso on Friday morning on her first trip to the border since she was tapped as immigration czar in March. She previously faced pushback from conservatives for failing to take a trek to the area in a more timely manner.
When asked why she chose to take her first excursion to the border at this moment, she said she had been to the area before.
“Well, it’s not my first trip. I’ve been to the border many times,” she told a reporter, likely in reference to her trips as a senator prior to her role in the White House.
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Harris, earlier in June, took a trip to Guatemala to discover the “root causes of migration” for her first international visit as vice president. She hopes to build off her work in the Central American country and her visit to the border “is not a new plan,” she said.
“So, the important aspect of this visit is leading this visit after the work that we did in Guatemala. … I’ve said back in March, I’m going to come to the border,” she said. “This is not a new plan, but the reality of it is that we have to deal with causes, and we have to deal with the effects.”
