Kamala Harris faces maybe essentially the most politically difficult second of her vice presidency Friday when she heads to the U.S. southern border as a part of her position main the Biden administration’s response to a steep enhance in migration.Whereas in El Paso, she is going to tour a Customs and Border Patrol processing middle, maintain a dialog with advocates from faith-based organizations in addition to shelter and authorized service suppliers, and ship remarks.The vp has confronted months of criticism from members of each events for declining to make the journey to this point and for her muddied explanations as to why.Republicans have seized on the absence of each Harris and President Joe Biden from the border to color the administration as weak on border safety, searching for to revive a potent political weapon in opposition to Democrats in time for the 2023 midterm elections. With former President Donald Trump visiting the world lower than per week after Harris, Republicans might be watching the vp’s go to intently for fodder for additional assaults. Whereas numerous administration officers have made a number of visits to the border, the absence of Biden and Harris has left some Democrats anxious that injury already has been completed.”The administration is making Democrats look weak,” mentioned Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar in an interview with The Related Press. “I’ve heard, from Democrats and Republicans in my space, what the heck is occurring with this administration?”Cuellar’s district spans from south of San Antonio to the U.S.-Mexico border, and final 12 months he received reelection by the slimmest margin of his almost two-decade-long profession. Whereas he says he is not anxious about his personal reelection battle, he provides, “I fear about my colleagues.”Cuellar’s feedback mirror a broader concern amongst some Democrats and immigration activists that the Biden administration has ceded the border safety debate to Republicans.Biden’s first few months in workplace have seen report numbers of migrants trying to cross the border. U.S. Customs and Border Safety recorded greater than 180,000 encounters on the Mexican border in Might, essentially the most since March 2000. These numbers have been boosted by a pandemic-related ban on searching for asylum, which inspired repeated makes an attempt to cross the border as a result of getting caught carried no authorized penalties.Republicans have seized on these figures to assault Biden and Harris as weak on border safety, a message the GOP used with success throughout the 2023 marketing campaign.Administration officers, together with Harris, have sought to push again in opposition to that notion, with Harris repeatedly sending the message to migrants throughout her latest go to to Guatemala: “Don’t come.”However these feedback drew hearth from some progressives, most notably New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who known as the message “disappointing.”It was an incident that underscored the political no-win state of affairs Harris finds herself in, taking over an intractable downside that is bedeviled previous administrations and been utilized by each events to drive wedges and turnout throughout marketing campaign season. If Biden chooses to not run for a second time period, Harris might be seen because the main contender to switch him, and the immigration problem might develop into both an opportunity for her to showcase her accomplishments or an albatross.Certainly, Republicans preemptively hammered Harris over her border go to, with Trump claiming credit score for her choice to go. Harris advisers have been cautious to emphasise that her major focus associated to immigration is addressing the foundation causes of migration. She has been searching for financial and humanitarian options to enhance situations for residents of Central and North American international locations who flee to the U.S. Her aides framed her journey to the border as a part of an effort to higher perceive easy methods to clear up the issue.”What occurs on the border issues, and is immediately related to what’s occurring in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras,” mentioned Harris spokeswoman Symone Sanders. “It’s immediately related to the work of addressing the foundation causes of migration.”Harris was being joined on the journey by Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar, who represents the district there.Harris had no plans to go to the migrant detention facility on the Fort Bliss army put up, which has drawn criticism from advocates who’ve described unsafe situations and allegations of abuse towards a number of the 1000’s of youngsters housed there. Cuellar known as her choice to go to El Paso “politically protected,” as a result of, he mentioned, many of the exercise on the border occurs farther south.Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Residents, a Latino civil rights group, expressed issues that Harris’s go to was “a day late and a greenback brief.””It virtually looks like they’re being form of compelled into it by the native communities, in addition to the Republicans’ political assaults from the fitting,” Garcia mentioned.However, nonetheless, Garcia mentioned he was glad she was going, and expressed optimism that her go to might assist the Biden administration appropriate its course on the immigration problem and present a distinction to the Trump administration’s hardline stance on border safety.”They need to personal this, and they need to clear up it, as a result of it does want a bipartisan answer,” he mentioned.
Kamala Harris faces maybe essentially the most politically difficult second of her vice presidency Friday when she heads to the U.S. southern border as a part of her position main the Biden administration’s response to a steep enhance in migration.
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Whereas in El Paso, she is going to tour a Customs and Border Patrol processing middle, maintain a dialog with advocates from faith-based organizations in addition to shelter and authorized service suppliers, and ship remarks.
The vp has confronted months of criticism from members of each events for declining to make the journey to this point and for her muddied explanations as to why.
Republicans have seized on the absence of each Harris and President Joe Biden from the border to color the administration as weak on border safety, searching for to revive a potent political weapon in opposition to Democrats in time for the 2023 midterm elections. With former President Donald Trump visiting the world lower than per week after Harris, Republicans might be watching the vp’s go to intently for fodder for additional assaults.
Whereas numerous administration officers have made a number of visits to the border, the absence of Biden and Harris has left some Democrats anxious that injury already has been completed.
“The administration is making Democrats look weak,” mentioned Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar in an interview with The Related Press. “I’ve heard, from Democrats and Republicans in my space, what the heck is occurring with this administration?”
Cuellar’s district spans from south of San Antonio to the U.S.-Mexico border, and final 12 months he received reelection by the slimmest margin of his almost two-decade-long profession. Whereas he says he is not anxious about his personal reelection battle, he provides, “I fear about my colleagues.”
Cuellar’s feedback mirror a broader concern amongst some Democrats and immigration activists that the Biden administration has ceded the border safety debate to Republicans.
Biden’s first few months in workplace have seen report numbers of migrants trying to cross the border. U.S. Customs and Border Safety recorded greater than 180,000 encounters on the Mexican border in Might, essentially the most since March 2000. These numbers have been boosted by a pandemic-related ban on searching for asylum, which inspired repeated makes an attempt to cross the border as a result of getting caught carried no authorized penalties.
Republicans have seized on these figures to assault Biden and Harris as weak on border safety, a message the GOP used with success throughout the 2023 marketing campaign.
Administration officers, together with Harris, have sought to push again in opposition to that notion, with Harris repeatedly sending the message to migrants throughout her latest go to to Guatemala: “Don’t come.”
However these feedback drew hearth from some progressives, most notably New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who known as the message “disappointing.”
It was an incident that underscored the political no-win state of affairs Harris finds herself in, taking over an intractable downside that is bedeviled previous administrations and been utilized by each events to drive wedges and turnout throughout marketing campaign season. If Biden chooses to not run for a second time period, Harris might be seen because the main contender to switch him, and the immigration problem might develop into both an opportunity for her to showcase her accomplishments or an albatross.
Certainly, Republicans preemptively hammered Harris over her border go to, with Trump claiming credit score for her choice to go.
Harris advisers have been cautious to emphasise that her major focus associated to immigration is addressing the foundation causes of migration. She has been searching for financial and humanitarian options to enhance situations for residents of Central and North American international locations who flee to the U.S. Her aides framed her journey to the border as a part of an effort to higher perceive easy methods to clear up the issue.
“What occurs on the border issues, and is immediately related to what’s occurring in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras,” mentioned Harris spokeswoman Symone Sanders. “It’s immediately related to the work of addressing the foundation causes of migration.”
Harris was being joined on the journey by Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar, who represents the district there.
Harris had no plans to go to the migrant detention facility on the Fort Bliss army put up, which has drawn criticism from advocates who’ve described unsafe situations and allegations of abuse towards a number of the 1000’s of youngsters housed there. Cuellar known as her choice to go to El Paso “politically protected,” as a result of, he mentioned, many of the exercise on the border occurs farther south.
Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Residents, a Latino civil rights group, expressed issues that Harris’s go to was “a day late and a greenback brief.”
“It virtually looks like they’re being form of compelled into it by the native communities, in addition to the Republicans’ political assaults from the fitting,” Garcia mentioned.
However, nonetheless, Garcia mentioned he was glad she was going, and expressed optimism that her go to might assist the Biden administration appropriate its course on the immigration problem and present a distinction to the Trump administration’s hardline stance on border safety.
“They need to personal this, and they need to clear up it, as a result of it does want a bipartisan answer,” he mentioned.
