Vice President Kamala Harris and her team plan to refute that she was ever in charge of the migration crisis at the southern border.
This comes as Republicans are set to make Harris’ role as Joe Biden’s “border czar” one of their main points of attack in their battle for the White House with Donald Trump.
As Democratic strategists try to remake Harris’ record for the campaign, a government transparency organization also took down a website that had declared her the most liberal Democrat in the Senate.
Immigration and the border were Harris’ first major task as vice president, and House Republicans on Thursday passed a resolution condemning her leadership on the issue.
US Vice President Kamala Harris (L) and US President Joe Biden. On March 24, President Biden appointed Harris to lead on immigration, focusing on the “root causes” of migration
A group of illegal immigrants scale a fence near Eagle Pass, Texas
By March 2021, President Joe Biden and his administration were already battling a growing migration crisis.
Migrants were pouring across the southern border, detention centers were filling up with unaccompanied minors, and stories about “kids in cages” began to filter into the public consciousness.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary at the time, repeatedly insisted that “it was not a crisis.”
Republicans criticized Biden’s lack of enforcement and demanded that the president take the issue seriously and visit the border.
The White House felt it necessary to do something, some kind of signal to the public and the media that the president was addressing the problem.
To avoid criticism, the Biden team offered Vice President Kamala Harris as the solution.
The president and vice president were together in the White House State Dining Room when Biden announced his intention to put Harris in charge of the immigration crisis.
His main goal, Biden said, was to lead diplomatic efforts with Mexico and Central American countries to address the “root causes” of migration.
“I can’t think of anyone more qualified to do this,” Biden said, citing Harris’ record as California attorney general.
It was no unfamiliar task, Biden said, noting that as vice president he had stepped forward to have President Barack Obama work with leaders to stem migration at the southern border.
US Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she boards Air Force Two
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (right) tours the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Central Processing Center in El Paso,
Migrants attempt to cross the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on February 29, 2024
But Biden knew he was throwing Harris into a leadership vacuum, when she had no interest in getting personally involved in a politically tense situation.
“I gave you a tough assignment,” Biden said, looking at Harris, who smiled wryly at him. “And you’re smiling, but there’s no one else capable of trying to organize this for us.”
Republicans couldn’t believe Biden had given Harris the job of securing the border, and the vice president and her team were deeply resentful of what Biden’s staff had done to her politically.
Even as Harris attempted to precisely define her role in the crisis, the media correctly acknowledged what Biden was doing.
‘Biden makes Harris point person on immigration issues amid border surge,’ read one headline. Political.
‘Biden names Vice President Harris to lead response to border challenges,’ Associated Press said wrote.
‘Biden puts Harris in charge of border crisis,’ read the headline of an article in Axios.
For many, Harris’ first event on the issue showed she was unprepared to handle the crisis, as she cited the show “Cheers” to make her point on migration.
“You know, to use a phrase from an old TV show, ‘Cheers,’ you know, ‘where everybody knows your name,’” he said, reciting the words to the show’s theme song. He explained, “Most people don’t want to leave the house.”
Republicans saw Harris’ weakness and began to emphasize her failures.
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the House minority leader, put Harris’ face on a milk carton and described her as “missing at the border.”
Vice President Kamala Harris discusses the southern border during a meeting with President Joe Biden
US Vice President Kamala Harris walks with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and spokeswoman Symone Sanders
Migrants heading to the United States on June 5, 2024
Biden didn’t help. After saddled Harris with the politically explosive issue, he used an event with congressional Democrats to say Harris would do an “extraordinary job.”
But the vice president was not to be swayed by that, interrupting Biden to remind him that he was only addressing the “root causes” of migration.
Under constant pressure, Harris was sent to Guatemala to organize an event on how to address the crisis and tell migrants not to come to the United States.
“Don’t come. Don’t come,” he said repeatedly. “The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border. I believe that if you come to our border, you will be turned away,” he said.
However, millions of migrants did not listen.
Harris also came under fire after she bizarrely dismissed the idea of visiting the border during an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt.
Asked why he had not been to the border, he said: “And I have not been to Europe. I don’t understand what you are saying.”
She laughed at the question.
Lester Holt presses Kamala Harris on why she hasn’t visited the border, to which she replies: “And I haven’t been to Europe.”
US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to the media
Vice President Kamala Harris and her team now argue that Harris was not the “border czar” despite several attempts by the administration to get her to address immigration.
In September 2022, the administration sent Harris to speak on the issue on Meet the Press.
When host Chuck Todd asked Harris if she thought the border was secure, she replied, “We have a secure border because it’s a priority for any nation, including ours and our administration.”
Republicans said that was not true and repeatedly questioned his claim.
As Republicans mounted criticism of Harris and Biden for refusing to visit the border, the president’s team ultimately decided to send Harris to relieve some of the pressure.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump visits the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas, as seen from Piedras Negras, Mexico, February 29, 2024
U.S. President Donald Trump visits the U.S.-Mexico border fence in Otay Mesa, California, September 18, 2019.
In June 2021, he visited the border, days after former President Donald Trump scheduled a visit to highlight the administration’s failures.
Harris said: “I’m glad to be here. It was always my plan to come here.”
Trump declared victory.
He said: “After months of ignoring the crisis at the Southern Border, it is fantastic that Kamala Harris is finally going to see the tremendous destruction and death that has been created.”