Harris visits US-Mexico border amid criticism

(MENAFN - Gulf Times) Vice President Kamala Harris visited a border patrol facility near the US-Mexico border yesterday, aiming to counter claims from Republicans she has been slow to visit the region as part of her role addressing the root causes of immigration. The trip, her first to the border since becoming vice president five months ago, was announced on Wednesday and appeared to have been hastily put together days before a border visit by former president Donald Trump. A White House official said Harris’s schedule was not dictated by what the Republican Trump does. ''I can assure you we don’t take our cues from the former president,” the official said. ''I said back in March I was going to come to the border, so this is not a new plan,” Harris told reporters after landing in Texas. ''Coming to the border...is about looking at the effects of what we have seen happening in Central America.” Republicans have criticised President Joe Biden, her fellow Democrat, for rolling back restrictive Trump-era immigration policies even as migrant detentions at the US-Mexico border have reached 20-year highs in recent months. Immigration remains a hot-button issue for both parties. Democrats and pro-immigrant activists have pressed Biden to further scale back enforcement and ensure humane treatment of migrant children and families arriving at the border. White House officials have for months said Harris’s efforts to stem immigration from Central America are focused on diplomacy and are distinct from the security issues at the border. ''The vice president’s trip to Guatemala and Mexico earlier this year was about the root causes, and this border visit is about the effects,” her spokesperson Symone Sanders, told reporters on Thursday. ''Both trips will inform the administration’s root causes strategy.” MENAFN25062021000067011011ID1102344913