Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday that she would travel to Guatemala and Mexico as part of her role in tackling the ’causes’ of the swirling migration crisis on the southern border – as she received intense criticism over her alleged lack of action on the crisis. .
‘The president asked the secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas to address what is going on at the border and he has worked very hard on it and is showing progress because of his hard work, ‘she said at a round table in the Northern Triangle.
“I was asked to lead the cause of causes in the Northern Triangle, similar to what the then vice president did many years ago,” she said. “But I’ll tell you these are issues that are not going to be addressed overnight.”
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On travel plans, Harris said ‘we have plans to go to Guatemala as soon as possible’, and later said she would stop in Mexico as well.
The Biden government is struggling to cope with a historic increase in migrants to the border, which critics say is fueled by the government’s liberal immigration policies. The administration refused to describe it as a crisis, instead calling it a ‘challenge’ and blaming the previous government.
Images of child migrants packed into South Texas, coupled with numbers showing record numbers of migrating fears this year, are increasing pressure on the government to act. So far, he has built a number of additional facilities, and they have also agreed with countries south of the border to increase the presence of troops at their borders.
Harris was identified as Biden’s choice to deal with what the White House describes as ‘root causes’ of the crisis, and Biden said Harris ‘agreed to lead our diplomatic effort and work with the countries to accept the returnees,’ and improve migration enforcement at their borders – at their borders. ‘
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She received criticism for not visiting the border – something that this latest trip does not seem to solve. At a GOP House press conference Wednesday, Republicans showed a milk carton with Harris’s photo on it with a slogan about ‘Missing at the Border’.
The White House opposed the criticism by saying that she would be involved in high-level diplomatic work, and not on the border.
“This is diplomatic work that will ultimately address migration issues over the long term. It is not a mandate to ‘deal with the border,'” White House director Kate Bedingfield told MSNBC. “What she is doing is high-level diplomatic work that is incredibly important to our economic stability in the hemisphere.”
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However, former DHS officials have scrapped the defense, saying the talks require Harris to also know what’s going on at the border.
“You can not talk to Northern Triangle countries or Mexican officials without understanding the pressure and the situation and atmosphere at the border,” former acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf told a Heritage press conference on Tuesday. Foundation said. “The two are so connected, you can not do one without the other.”