A first-term House Republican is encouraging Vice President Kamala Harris to abandon a go-it-alone mentality in resolving the border crisis. Instead, she’s suggesting Harris bring Democrats and Republicans from southern border districts on her trip to Central America.
Rep. Yvette Herrell, whose district includes the entire New Mexico-Mexico border, knocked Harris for not having visited the U.S.-Mexico boundary before her international trip to Guatemala next week. Instead, in a letter exclusively obtained by the Washington Examiner, Herrell told Harris if she does not plan to see the border herself, she ought to bring knowledgeable lawmakers with her as she seeks to reach a solution with foreign leaders.
“I believe it is imperative that your discussions with the governments of Mexico and Central American countries include members of Congress, especially those members from border communities and those on both sides of the aisle,” Herrell wrote in her letter. “This crisis can only be solved with bipartisan input and perspective from those who represent areas along the southern border.”
“I would be pleased to host you in New Mexico’s Second District as well as join you on your trip to Mexico and Guatemala to bring firsthand knowledge of what the border crisis means for those who live there and are affected daily,” the congresswoman wrote.
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Harris’s trip in June includes meetings with the presidents of Guatemala and Mexico. The Biden administration is focused on addressing the root causes that prompt citizens of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico to migrate to the U.S. southern border and attempt to enter the country illegally. The trip is intended as a way for Harris to pave inroads with foreign leaders, including through the use of foreign aid.
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But Herrell said Joe Biden’s plan to send $4 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars to Central America might “actually exacerbate our border crisis.” A Center for Global Development and Princeton University study cited in her letter states that relying on foreign aid to deter emigration is “weak at best.”
In April, more than 178,000 people attempted to come across from Mexico illegally, the most in any month since 2000. The Biden administration has refused to call it a “crisis,” defending the rising numbers as the result of normal seasonal changes in migration rates.
Herrell insisted foreign aid will do little to quell the flow of families, children, and adults crossing the border when “public statements and policies from officials within the Biden administration signal to those across the world that America’s borders are effectively open.”
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Since taking office in January, Biden has suspended all border wall construction, paused a program that forced asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims were decided in U.S. court, and stopped turning away tens of thousands of families and children who come across the border as the Trump administration had done since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
