VP Harris hits border today: Why she chose El Paso

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday she was “glad to be here” on her first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border as leader of the Biden administration’s response to a migration spike that’s drawn fire from Republicans and made fellow Democrats uncomfortable.

“It was always the plan to come here, and I think we’re gonna have a good productive day,” Harris said after arriving into El Paso.

Harris met with five young girls, ages 9-16, who had been held at a Customs and Border Protection processing center after crossing the border, the White House said. She also spoke with agents about how they were using technology to streamline intake for migrants.

“You guys have made incredible advances in the last several months,” she told the agents.

Her schedule includes talks with advocates from faith-based organizations, as well as shelter and legal service providers, after a drop-by at the Paso del Norte Port of Entry.

The vice president has faced months of criticism from members of both parties for declining to make the trip thus far and for her muddied explanations as to why.

Republicans have seized on the absence of both Harris and President Joe Biden from the border to paint the administration as weak on border security, seeking to revive a potent political weapon against Democrats in time for the 2022 midterm elections. With former President Donald Trump visiting the area less than a week after Harris, Republicans will be watching the vice president’s visit closely for fodder for further attacks.

“The administration is making Democrats look weak,” said Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar in an interview with The Associated Press. “I’ve heard, from Democrats and Republicans in my area, what the heck is going on with this administration?”

Cuellar’s district spans from south of San Antonio to the U.S.-Mexico border, and last year he won reelection by the slimmest margin of his nearly two-decade-long career. While he says he’s not worried about his own reelection fight, he adds, “I worry about my colleagues.”

Cuellar’s comments reflect a broader concern among some Democrats and immigration activists that the Biden administration has ceded the border security debate to Republicans.

Biden’s first few months in office have seen record numbers of migrants attempting to cross the border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded more than 180,000 encounters on the Mexican border in May, the most since March 2000. Those numbers were boosted by a coronavirus pandemic-related ban on seeking asylum, which encouraged repeated attempts to cross the border because getting caught carried no legal consequences.

Republicans have seized on those figures to attack Biden and Harris as weak on border security, a message the GOP used with success during the 2020 campaign.

Administration officials, including Harris, have sought to push back against that perception, with Harris repeatedly sending the message to migrants during her recent visit to Guatemala: “Do not come.”

But those comments drew fire from some progressives, most notably New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who called the message “disappointing.”