Vice President Kamala Harris and her team plan to refute that she was ever in charge of the migration crisis at the southern border.
It comes as Republicans are set to make Harris’ role as Joe Biden‘s ‘border czar’ one of their main points of attack in her battle for the White House with Donald Trump.
As Democratic strategists try to reinvent Harris’ record for the campaign a government transparency organization also deleted a webpage which had declared her the most liberal Democrat in the Senate .
Immigration and the border was Harris’ first big 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
A group of illegal migrants scale a fence near Eagle Pass, Texas
In March 2021, President Joe Biden and his administration were already struggling with an escalating immigration crisis.
Migrants were pouring across the southern border, detention centers filled up with unaccompanied minors, and stories about ‘kids in cages’ began filtering into the public consciousness.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary at the time, repeatedly insisted that it was ‘not a crisis’.
Republicans hammered Biden’s lack of enforcement, demanding that the president take the issue seriously and visit the border.
The White House felt it necessary to do something, some kind of sign to the public and the media that the president was tackling the problem.
To stave off criticism Team Biden offered up Vice President Kamala Harris as the solution.
The president and vice president stood together in the State Dining Room of the White House as Biden announced his intention to put Harris in charge of the migrant crisis.
Her chief goal, Biden stated, was to lead the diplomatic effort with Mexico and Central American countries to address the ‘root causes’ of migration.
‘I can think of nobody who — who is better qualified to do this,’ Biden said, citing Harris’ record as a California Attorney General.
It was not an unfamiliar task, Biden noted, recalling that as vice president, he had stepped up for President Barack Obama to work with leaders to stem migration on the southern border.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris waves as as she boards Air Force Two
US Vice President Kamala Harris (R) tours the El Paso US Customs and Border Protection Central Processing Center,
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 he had no interest in getting involved personally in a politically fraught situation.
‘I gave you a tough job,’ Biden said, looking at Harris who smiled wryly at him. ‘And you’re smiling, but there’s no one better capable of trying to organize this for us.’
Republicans could not believe that Biden had given the task of securing the border to Harris, and the vice president and her team were deeply resentful of what Biden’s staff had done to her politically.
Although Harris tried to narrowly define her role in the crisis, media outlets correctly recognized what Biden was doing.
‘Biden makes Harris the point person on immigration issues amid border surge’ read a headline in Politico.
‘Biden taps VP Harris to lead response to border challenges,’ the Associated Press wrote.
‘Biden puts Harris in charge of border crisis,’ read the headline of an article by Axios.
To many, Harris’ first event on the issue demonstrated 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 television show, “Cheers”, you know, “where everybody knows your name,”’ she said, reciting words from the show’s theme song. She explained, “Most people don’t want to leave home.”
Republicans saw Harris’ weakness and began driving home her failures.
House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. put Harris’ face on a carton of milk and described her as ‘missing at the border.’
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks about the southern border during a meeting with President Joe Biden
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris walks with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Spokesperson Symone Sanders
Migrants making their way into the United States on June 5, 2024
Biden did not help. After saddling Harris with the politically explosive issue, he used an event with congressional Democrats to say that Harris would do a ‘hell of a job’.
But the Vice President was not having it. She interrupted Biden to remind him that she was only handling the ‘root causes’ of migration.
Facing ongoing pressure, Harris was sent to Guatemala to host an event on addressing the crisis and telling migrants not to come to the United States.
‘Do not come. Do not come,’ she said repeatedly. ‘The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border. I believe if you come to our border, you will be turned back,’ she said.
However, millions of migrants did not listen.
Harris was also beset with criticism after she dismissed the idea of visiting the border in bizarre fashion during an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt.
Asked about not having been to the border she said: ‘…And I haven’t been to Europe. I don’t understand the point you’re making.’
She laughed at the question.
Lester Holt pushes Kamala Harris on why she hadn’t visited the border, to which she replied: ‘And I haven’t been to Europe’
United States 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 tackle the immigration issue
In September 2022, Harris was sent by the administration to talk about the issue on Meet the Press.
When anchor Chuck Todd asked Harris whether she believed the border was secure, she replied, ‘We have a secure border in that that is a priority for any nation, including ours and our administration.’
Republicans said that was not true and repeatedly challenged her claim.
As Republicans ramped up criticism of Harris, and Biden, for refusing to visit the border, the president’s team finally decided to send Harris to release some of the pressure.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump visits the U.S.-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, as seen from Piedras Negras, Mexico, February 29, 2024
U.S. President Donald Trump visits the US-Mexico border fence in Otay Mesa, California on September 18, 2019
In June 2021 she 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 the plan to come here.’
Trump declared victory.
He said: ‘After months of ignoring the crisis at the Southern Border, it is great that we got Kamala Harris to finally go and see the tremendous destruction and death that they’ve created.’
