Kamala Harris is set to visit the border
By: Daniel Lippman (MSN)
Well she had to beat Mr. Trump and the Republican reps down there for her optics.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Vice President Kamala Harris is heading to the U.S.-Mexico border this week, amid an unrelenting chorus of criticism from Republicans over her failure to visit there.
Harris, who was tasked by President Joe Biden to lead diplomatic efforts to stem the flow of migrants arriving on the southern border, will make a stop in El Paso, Texas on Friday, according to sources familiar with the trip. She is expected to be accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
A spokesperson for Harris declined to comment. A DHS spokesperson had no comment.
Harris and her team have repeatedly pushed back at criticism that neither she nor the president have gone to visit the U.S.-Mexico border, arguing that she is more focused on tackling the destabilizing conditions that are causing thousands of migrants from Central America to head to the border, seeking refuge. That was the central message during her first foreign trip, a two-day visit to Mexico and Guatemala, earlier this month. While there, Harris met with local officials and implored migrants not to make the journey across Mexico into the United States.
Her trip, however, was complicated by continued questions over whether she would go to the border to view the situation there. Harris' response — in which she downplayed the need and noted that she also hadn't visited Europe — only amplified the criticism.
Harris' trip comes just days before former President Donald Trump is set to visit the border. Trump will be joined on that trip by Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott and a group of House Republicans.
The number of migrants arriving at the U.S. southern border has soared in the months since the Biden administration took office. In May, more than 180,000 migrants were apprehended at the border, according to monthly figures from Customs and Border Protection.
Of those, the majority — more than 112,000 — were almost immediately expelled. That's because the Biden administration has continued to use Title 42, a public health order former President Donald Trump invoked in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic to kick out migrants without letting them seek asylum.
The U.S. has also seen a record number of unaccompanied children taken into custody under the Biden administration. More than 18,800 unaccompanied children crossed the border in March, according to CBP figures; the highest monthly number previously recorded was more than 11,000 children who crossed the border in May 2019. The number of child arrivals has steadily decreased in April and May, but remains well above that 2019 record.
Much of the political focus on the U.S. southern border has dissipated in recent weeks. However, Biden continues to grapple with the longstanding political and logistical challenges of handling an increased number of migrant arrivals. Republicans have zeroed in on the increased number of migrants heading to the border as a line of attack against the Biden administration, repeatedly calling it the "Biden border crisis."
They've also slammed Harris, specifically, for not visiting the border after Biden tasked her with leading diplomatic efforts to address root causes of migration, a job Biden had as vice president during the Obama administration. During a press conference with the Guatemalan president earlier this month, Harris dismissed the criticism, saying her visit to the region was focused on finding ways to address irregular migration in a way "that is significant, is tangible and has real results."
"And I will continue to be focused on that kind of work, as opposed to grand gestures," Harris said in Guatemala City.
But by the end of the trip, after repeated criticism for her answer to questions around her visiting the border, Harris had pledged to visit the border soon.
Sabrina Rodriguez and Eugene Daniels contributed to this report.
Wonder if she will be kicking and screaming.................or possibly just her irritating little nervous chuckle.
Maybe she'll ape Cruz with a photo-op in the weeds?
I will never understand why the right wing has their panties in such a bind about a VPOTUS photo op. That is all this, or any border visit is, a photo op. The actual work is done in DC.
If one doesn't see first hand what it going on and/or talk with and observe the problems faced at the border, one cannot do a the expected and reasonable job of "fixing" it. God knows she/we cannot depend on the media to give an accurate account of just what is going on..............well unless it's the fictitious "kids in cages" and the "ripping children from the arms of the parents (many of whom weren't really their parents)" bullshit during the last administration.
Everyone with half a brain cell (this leaves out most leftists) knows that if this were Trump or Biden not going to the border with a crisis like we are experiencing now, the loons on the left would be screaming at the top of their lungs that they don't care about the country and want open borders.
The real difference, however, is that Biden/Harris does not care about the country and DO want open borders.
Trump lived on the border, if there was a golf course on it, he'd still be there.
Project much? Just what the hell do you think Harris observed there?
A bunch of right wing loons picketing about the next caravan and how we need to throw unaccompanied children back over the fence to fend for themselves?
Or a bunch of right wing christians saying we can't let all these asylum seekers in because there is no room at the inn country?
What in the hell are you talking about?
Nope...just the truth.
The rest of your rant was just that.
I have been to and across our borders with Mexico and Canada many times and I always observed people going back and forth. The same at any international airport or port. Just as it should be.
Unless you desire a world where nobody from outside America is welcome here and Americans are not welcome anywhere else, get over yourselves!
Building walls to keep your own people in and everyone else locked out is some Dark Ages Game Of Thrones Fantasy Land bullshit thinking
Apples and tire irons. You speak of the legal ingress and egress between countries. We are talking people walking across a river or being smuggled in voids it the wall and children being left alone once the coyote is paid and done with his part of the bargain. Hardly the kind of personal "observations" to aid in stopping the stupidity.
As for the wall, there are ports of entry, as you so aptly pointed out, for that back and forth LEGALLY. And no one is trying to keep anyone "IN" the US.
Your comments are a little dramatic don't you think?
How many of these illegals have you taken into your home, paid for their health, food, etc?
Funny how I can never get a [deleted to answer this honestly.]
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Perhaps lay off the video games a bit.
The fucking irony
Do you think someone is building a wall to keep you in? I highly doubt it.
Walls can have a dual purpose, it is not difficult to slip from one to the other.
Do you have some indication of that slippage or just some fantasy tv show or video game too?
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[Please take note that the two of you are blocked from communicating with each other for 30 days, SP]
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They have had time to move the children out of the inhumane conditions. All clear.
If Harris goes to the border, you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be a very carefully scripted and choreographed politically oriented dog and pony show visit that will show only what they want her to see and what the Dems want seen. Do not expect to see her talking to the local residents about how they are affected by the crisis on a day to day or conservative media to be allowed with her or to question her.
And they will more than likely use the old "security concerns" for not actually getting to the "front lines". We are probably going to have to wait until the "next party" gets there to see real life.
This shouldn't be a day trip. She needs to hang out and get the real picture and that's going to take more than a few hours. A night ride in a border patrol vehicle and watching the river and seeing the "control centers" to get the total urgency. Her bullshit photo ops were the trip to Central and South America. She tried to stick her finger in the proverbial dike to stop the flow and it isn't going to cut it. All it will do is the good old Democratic way. Give them money in the guise of helping them overcome the reasons that won't change a thing
Harris's choice of where she finally decided to show her face pretty much proves my point in post #5 above.
Maybe she should just wear a coat that says...I don't care.
Worked for Melania.
She doesn't need to wear a coat. We already know she does not care. Her inaction for 3 months are proof enough.