OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Joe Biden named Kamala Harris as the person in charge of addressing the migration crisis at the Southern border.
But many people, including Republicans and Democrats, have not been very impressed with how she has handled it and her recent avoidance of a meeting with high-ranking officials in Mexico this week, Fox reported.
Several top members of the Biden administration were in Mexico City on Friday for a meeting with Mexican officials regarding security along the U.S.-Mexico border. But Vice President Kamala Harris wasn’t among them.
Harris, whom President Biden appointed in March to manage the U.S. response to the migrant crisis along the border, went to New Jersey instead.
Attending Friday’s high-level talks in Mexico’s capital were Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Ken Salazar, a former U.S. senator from Colorado who now serves as the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, also attended.
Harris not being present at a meeting of that many top officials speaks volumes to how she has handled the border crisis.
“Today’s High-Level Security Dialogue marks an important new phase in the US-Mexico security partnership. We will work together under a new framework to guide our joint efforts, and work toward our shared goals of security and prosperity for our two nations,” Secretary Mayorkas said on Twitter.
Today's High-Level Security Dialogue marks an important new phase in the US-Mexico security partnership.
We will work together under a new framework to guide our joint efforts, and work toward our shared goals of security and prosperity for our two nations. pic.twitter.com/ZR4I8PSLSW
— Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (@SecMayorkas) October 8, 2021
But rather than be at that meeting Harris was in New Jersey visiting a daycare center at Montclair State University and a vaccination site at Essex County Community College to promote the Biden / Harris agenda.
The only time Harris has visited the border since becoming vice president was in June when she made a stop in El Paso, Texas on her way home to California.
Harris has been shredded by some top Democrats on her handling of the border crisis.
In a tweet in September, former Democratic Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard took aim at Biden and Kamala Harris, accusing their border policies of creating a “humanitarian crisis.”
“@JoeBiden @KamalaHarris, the humanitarian and national security crisis on the southern border is the direct result of your open-border policy. As I said in my 2020 presidential campaign, we can’t have a secure nation if we don’t secure our borders,” she said on Twitter.
.@JoeBiden @KamalaHarris, the humanitarian and national security crisis on the southern border is the direct result of your open-border policy. As I said in my 2020 presidential campaign, we can’t have a secure nation if we don't secure our borders.
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) September 23, 2021
Days later = she tweeted again, saying that traffickers and cartels were benefitting from the chaos at the border and that Biden should reinstate Donald Trump’s “Remain In Mexico” policy.
The Biden/Harris open-door policy has been a disaster. It needs to end now. The main beneficiaries of open borders are the gangs, cartels, and human traffickers. The Trump policy of having people wait on the other side of the border worked and needs to be reinstated.
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) September 23, 2021
“The Biden/Harris open-door policy has been a disaster. It needs to end now. The main beneficiaries of open borders are the gangs, cartels, and human traffickers. The Trump policy of having people wait on the other side of the border worked and needs to be reinstated,” she said.
The Biden/Harris open-door policy has been a disaster. It needs to end now. The main beneficiaries of open borders are the gangs, cartels, and human traffickers. The Trump policy of having people wait on the other side of the border worked and needs to be reinstated.
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) September 23, 2021
And in August, several top Republicans called for action against Harris.
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley tweeted that Harris should be fired from her role.
“Kamala Harris must be fired from her role overseeing the border crisis. She has failed to secure the border and has emboldened cartels. We need real leadership,” Haley tweeted.
Kamala Harris must be fired from her role overseeing the border crisis.
She has failed to secure the border and has emboldened cartels. We need real leadership.
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) August 2, 2021
Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz took to Twitter on Monday to criticized Biden and Harris for the continuing crisis.
“Hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens, thousands of pounds of dangerous drugs including fentanyl, and terrorists are flooding across the border due to Biden and Harris’ open borders. And what’s Joe Biden doing today? Speaking at a DNC fundraiser #BidenBorderCrisis,” he tweeted.
Hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens, thousands of pounds of dangerous drugs including fentanyl, and terrorists are flooding across the border due to Biden and Harris’ open borders.
And what’s Joe Biden doing today? Speaking at a DNC fundraiser. #BidenBorderCrisis
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 2, 2021
Former Acting ICE Director Ron Vitiello argued that Harris should be removed from her role.
“There’s clearly no interest at the White House level, including the Vice President, to fix this problem,” he said.
Back in June, a whopping 56 Republican lawmakers called on Joe Biden to replace Kamala Harris as the official tasked with addressing the migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
GOP Rep. Glenn Grothman wrote a damaging letter directed to Harris, pointing out her obvious failure to visit the border: “The @VP STILL hasn’t visited the border. You can’t truly know the situation until you speak with people on the ground. I and 55 of my colleagues sent this letter to @POTUS demanding her removal from this position because 180k encounters, a 21-year high, is unacceptable.”
Grothman tore into Harris, saying: “Despite being in the midst of a border crisis this country has not seen in two decades, Vice President Harris has not yet shown adequate interest in observing this crisis first-hand. In the 85 days since the Vice President has been tasked with solving this crisis, she has yet to visit the border and meet with Border Patrol agents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, and local law enforcement officials.”
— Rep. Glenn Grothman (@RepGrothman) June 17, 2021
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich recently took aim at Harris and said she has failed to respond to his invitation to tour the crisis at the US-Mexico border.
“I guess if you were a philosopher you would say no response is a very loud response because we’ve not received any response,” Brnovich said.
Harris needs to “look into the eyes of people being smuggled across the border, being exploited by the cartels and realize this is a humanitarian crisis on so many levels,” Brnovich said.
