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President Biden visited the southern border in Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday, and was joined by a lot of high officers, together with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, however Vice President Kamala Harris was not amongst them.
Biden spoke in Brownsville after assembly with Border Patrol, regulation enforcement and native leaders. He urged Republicans to again a bipartisan Senate invoice that he believes will assist resolve the raging crisis on the southern border.
“It’s real simple, it’s time to act, it is long past time to act,” the president mentioned. “It’s time for us to move on this, we can’t wait any longer.”
BIDEN, DURING VISIT TO OVERWHELMED BORDER, URGES REPUBLICANS TO BACK SENATE BILL: ‘TIME TO ACT’
But the vp, who was tasked in 2021 with main the diplomatic outreach to deal with the “root causes” of migration, was not there.
Migrants wait to be processed by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol after they crossed the Rio Grande and entered the U.S. from Mexico, October 19, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
The administration had initially leaned firmly into the root-causes narrative in early 2021, claiming that these causes – which embody local weather change, violence, poverty and financial insecurity – have been driving migration to the U.S. border. Its reply, subsequently, was to interact with governments and to take a position in concentrating on these causes, finally bringing migration down.
The project rapidly led to Harris being dubbed the “border czar” – a title the White House rejected, stressing as a substitute that it was extra to do with worldwide engagement. She would go on to visit the border in El Paso in June 2021 after going through strain.
As a part of that effort, Harris has been trying to rally private-sector funding to the area by way of a Call to Action – significantly into the Northern Triangle international locations of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
“First, I do believe most people don’t want to leave home. They don’t want to leave their grandmother. They don’t want to leave the place where they worship and the community that they’ve always known,” Harris mentioned in 2022. “And so, when they do, it is usually for one of two reasons: They are fleeing harm, or to stay means they simply cannot satisfy their basic needs or the needs of their family.”
A 12 months in the past, Harris introduced an extra $950 million in response to the Call to Action, bringing in a complete of greater than $4.2 billion since May 2021.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a marketing campaign rally, Friday, February 2, 2024, in Orangeburg, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
But since then, her public role solely seems to have frequently shrunk, even amid a historic 12 months for unlawful immigration, with greater than 2.4 million migrant encounters in FY 23. FY 24 has been equally overwhelming, with over 300,000 encounters in December.
Harris was not a part of the border tour on Thursday, nor was she a part of a delegation to Mexico City in December with Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
In that assembly, the 2 international locations, in accordance with a White House readout, “reaffirmed their existing commitments on fostering an orderly, humane, and regular migration.”
“This includes reinforcing our partnership to address the root causes of migration, such as poverty, inequality, and violence, and for the two countries’ initiative for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans,” it mentioned.
Yet, regardless of the discussions on root causes, Harris was not in attendance. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for remark.
The L.A. Times lately reported that Harris will meet with new Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo in Washington to announce extra private-sector funding.
7.2M ENTERED US UNDER BIDEN ADMIN, AN AMOUNT GREATER THAN POPULATION OF 36 STATES
But root causes, whereas nonetheless on the agenda, have gave the impression to be much less of a spotlight for the administration in its border technique — in half as a result of the migration surge has more and more been coming from international locations coming exterior of the Northern Triangle, together with from Venezuela, Nicaragua and China.
The administration is now targeted on passing the Senate border invoice, which has bipartisan assist however has struggled to achieve sufficient assist to move as a consequence of conservative opposition. The invoice contains further funding for staffing on the border, funding for cities and NGOs, in addition to guidelines tightening asylum and a mechanism to close down entries after they attain a sure degree. Conservatives say it might codify an unnecessarily excessive degree of unlawful entries.
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Harris has put out an announcement calling for Congress to move the invoice earlier this month.
“Let us remember: we are a nation of immigrants. Immigrants have always helped strengthen our country, grow our economy, and drive innovation. We know that in America, diversity is our strength,” she mentioned. “So rather than politicize this issue, let us all address it with the urgency and seriousness it requires.”
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