Harris’ first task a tough one: take lead on border, migration
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris will take the lead for the Biden administration on border and migration issues, the president said Wednesday, giving her a highprofile role on a controversial issue.
It’s the first clear assignment for Harris since taking her job alongside President Biden, one that fits her expertise but also puts her in the center of a brewing political storm.
Biden announced Harris’ role coordinating diplomacy and border control efforts with Central America and Mexico in a meeting with his immigration officials at the White House. He pointed to Harris’ experience as California’s attorney general working on human rights and combating organized crime, saying there was “nobody who is better qualified” for the job.
The goal will be for Harris to help the administration’s efforts to stem the flow of asylum seekers to the southern border by addressing condi
tions in migrants’ home countries.
“I have asked her, the VP today, because she is the most qualified person to do it, to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border,” Biden said.
The president noted that when he was vice president, he also took the lead in dealing with the Northern Triangle nations of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The Obama administration won bipartisan support in Congress for an influx of monetary aid to the Central American countries to help with the factors that drive migrants north, including gang violence and natural disasters. Harris will similarly take the lead on outreach to Central American countries and Mexico in coordinating international aid and enforcement as well as working with Congress on the issue.
Biden said Harris would have other roles and that the new one wouldn’t be her full responsibility, but he deputized her to speak for him on the issue.
“She is leading the effort because I think the best thing to do is to put someone who, when he or she speaks, they don’t have to wonder about, ‘Is that where the president is?’ ” Biden said. “When she speaks, she speaks for me, doesn’t have to check with me, she knows what she’s doing, and I hope we can move this along.”
The role is in some ways a natural fit for Harris, who made immigration and border policy a focus when she represented California in the Senate. She is the daughter of immigrants, her mother from India and father from Jamaica, and represented the state with the largest immigrant population in the country and a common border with Mexico.
Harris has less experience with foreign policy and diplomacy, but she has been holding calls with foreign leaders since becoming vice president and has been meeting weekly with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The role will also catapult Harris to the center of a political fray, as the number of children and teenagers coming alone to the border is nearing historic levels and Republicans are seeking to make border security a political wedge issue. Immigration can be a nowin political topic, as partisan disagreements have long stymied progress and persistent dangerous conditions in Central America have driven waves of migration to the United States.
Already, Republicans have seized on a video of Harris responding to reporters Monday asking if she would visit the border, in which she laughingly replied she wasn’t going that day. Harris went on to say she had visited in the past and would again.
“The fact that just this week, when asked if she was going to the border, she laughed out loud, I think that encapsulates the indifference that the Biden administration has to the crisis they have created and are continuing to make worse each and every day,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told reporters in the Capitol on Wednesday.
Republicans have also sought to tie Harris to positions she took during the Democratic presidential primary, including support for removing the criminal penalty for crossing the border illegally. Still, at least one senior Republican said he would give Harris a chance.
“Well, you know, they won, she’s in charge, I’ll help her but they own it,” said South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a confidant of former President Donald Trump. “I’ll gladly work with her to do things that will turn the problem around. Does she have the ability to do that politically? Does she have the will? Does she have the desire, does she see the problem the way I do? It’s hard to fix a problem unless you know what it is.”
In their remarks at the White House, both Harris and Biden acknowledged the complexity of the issue but argued they could make progress.
“This new surge that we are seeing now started with the last administration, but it is our responsibility to deal with it humanely and to stop what’s happening,” Biden said.
Harris said the work would be difficult but important.
“There are many factors that lead residents to leave these countries,” Harris said. “While we are clear that people should not come to the border now, we also understand that we will enforce the law and that we also — because we can chew gum and walk at the same time — must address the root causes that cause people to make the trek as the president has described to come here.”