Dems are divided on blame
And Kamala’s clueless
Democrats are split on whom to blame for the spiraling crisis at the southern border, as Vice President Kamala Harris refused to comment on the matter — claiming on Wednesday that she hadn’t been briefed on the situation.
Liberal Democratic leadership has continued to deflect blame on the policies of former President Donald Trump, while further-left progressives remain opposed to the use of migrant detention centers and have expressed their dissatisfaction with President Biden.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was standing by Biden Wednesday, telling MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that “the president has been in office not quite two months.”
“They are addressing it and it will improve,” Pelosi said, adding that Democrats were “all impatient” to reunite children separated from their parents at the border.
While Pelosi declined to blame Biden for the crisis, she did acknowledge that it was, in fact, a crisis.
“As far as the children are concerned, you can imagine me as a mother of five, every minute that a parent is separated from a child to me is a crisis,” Pelosi said. “So we want this to move along expeditiously.”
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn), meanwhile, said during his weekly Wednesday press conference, “The facts on the ground have made clear that the beginnings of an increase in young people arriving at our southern border started prior to Joe Biden’s election.
“But of course, they want to distract from the fact that every single Republican in the House and the Senate voted against the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan,” he continued, placing blame on the GOP.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) declined to classify the situation in such stark terms, saying, “I wouldn’t call it a crisis, but it certainly is a challenge.”
However, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a staunch progressive, told MSNBC over the weekend, that Biden’s handling of the situation was wrong, calling it “morally unacceptable” and arguing that “human-rights violations” were taking place.
“I just read a report that some of the children don’t have food, they aren’t being able to shower, they’re being held for more than 72 hours without going to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, they aren’t being given access to lawyers,” Khanna alleged without naming the specific report.
“These are human-rights violations. We need to expedite and make sure they’re allowed to apply for asylum. We need to expedite their reunification with families and put them in a place that isn’t behind bars as unaccompanied minors — and at least has food and proper shelter.”
Meanwhile, Harris said Wednesday she was not prepared to comment about the situation after being asked if she was worried about the children at the border.
“I haven’t been briefed on anything today about it, but I will when I get on the plane,” she told reporters before boarding a military jet.
In unraveling Trump initiatives such as border-wall construction and the “Remain in Mexico” policy for those seeking asylum, Biden unleashed a flood of illegal migrants at the border, including thousands of unescorted children.