On Monday (December 19), Vice President Kamala Harris blamed Republicans for the U.S.-Mexico border crisis, criticizing the GOP for being unwilling to “engage in any meaningful reform.”
Harris, who President Joe Biden has delegated the role of “border czar” in 2021, made her remarks in an interview with NPR at the White House.
The Vice President explained her sadness about Congressional Republicans’ unwillingness to engage in reform that would “actually fix a lot of what [the U.S. is] witnessing.”
Harris admitted that there was “so much” needed to occur to resolve the border crisis. But added that reforms to the immigration system could only happen in Congress through an “immigration bill” that gave illegal immigrants a “legal pathway to citizenship and a legal presence in the country.”
Harris was discussing the plans of the Biden Administration for the border, revealing that they would be increasing technology at the border and sending more border officials to the southern border.
Harris’s recent comments contrast with remarks she made in September to NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where she asserted that the border was secure.
At the time, Harris declared the U.S.-Mexico Border was secure but that it was the immigration system that was broken.
She alluded to the immigration system breaking because of the Trump administration and that it was fixed.
Speaking to host Chuck Todd, who asked if she was confident the border was secure, as millions of migrants were set to cross the Mexico border for the first time.
She reiterated in that interview that the priority was giving migrants a pathway to citizenship.
