I bet you thought Vice President Kamala Harris was tasked with dealing with the humanitarian disaster on our southern border.
After all, President Joe Biden did put the challenging border situation in the Vice President’s portfolio.
Yet Harris reportedly has no events related to the surge at the border on her schedule.
The Vice President famously laughed off a question about when she would schedule a visit to the border (before President Biden added the border to her to-do list).
Meanwhile, things at the border are becoming desperate.
So, is she or is she not the point person on the border?
Read between the lines on this Politico report on Harris’ new assignment:
Harris’ main focus, a senior administration official told reporters earlier Wednesday, will be two-pronged: working to slow the flow of “irregular migrants” by addressing “the root causes” that prompt them to leave their home countries as well as strengthening relationships with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries where the bulk of the migrants arriving at the U.S. border come from.
The role puts Harris front-and-center at one of the most politically risky issues for the White House as it struggles with an influx of migrant children at the southern border. Harris acknowledged this, saying there “is no question this is a challenging situation,” but said that she would be looking forward to discussions with the leaders of the nations.
This looks more like a one-prong approach: having endless diplomatic conversations with officials from countries below our border, addressing their own internal problems, without ever once addressing the surge at our border. Addressing the “root causes” of illegal immigration will take decades, has taken decades, and it will do nothing to help us at the border in the near future. In short, it looks like Harris has no intention of dirtying her hands with what is actually happening on our border.
Indeed, the Vice President is “looking forward to discussions with the leaders of the nations.” Nice work if you can get it.
Meanwhile, the ranchers and home owners near the border are on their own. The coyotes will be empowered to transport children to the border, to traffic them if that is profitable for cartels. But Kamala Harris will be engaging in talks about “root causes.” This has absolutely no practical meaning as a humanitarian catastrophe unfolds on our border.