The United States Vice President; Kamala Harris found herself on a hot seat on Thursday during an interview with Univision anchor; Ilia Calderón.
The tension in the house grew worse as Harris offered a tense response after being pressed by Ilia Calderón on when she will visit the southern border amid the historic illegal immigration/ migrant crisis.
Harris keeps facing pressure to visit the southern border amid the historic surge of immigrants as Republican critics accused her of not taking the migration crisis seriously enough.
“I’ve said I’m going to the border,” the vice president replied. “And I–“
“When are you going to the border, vice president?” Calderón interrupted her to ask.
“I’m not finished,” Harris replied with an uncomfortable laugh, raising her finger at the host.
“I’ve said I’m going to the border. And also if we are going to deal with the problems at the border, we have to deal with the problems that cause people to go to the border, to flee to the border. So my first trip as vice president of the United States was to go — in terms of a foreign trip — to Guatemala, to be on the ground there to address and to be informed of the root causes why are the people of Guatemala leaving.”
“Do you have a date for your trip to the border?” Calderón followed up by asking.
“I will keep you posted,” Harris replied.
Harris, who visited Guatemala and Mexico this week as part of her first foreign visit in office, was dogged for her entire trip with questions about going to surveil the situation at the US-Mexico border in person.
Her answer to NBC News’s Lester Holt on the same matter has continued to haunt her in the days since.
“At some point, you know, we are going to the border,” a defensive Harris told Holt on “Today” in Guatemala — 1,308 miles away from the US-Mexico crossing.
“We’ve been to the border. So this whole thing about the border, we’ve been to the border,” Harris said, to which Holt replied, “You haven’t been to the border.”
Harris, seeming to laugh at her joke, responded: “And I haven’t been to Europe. And I mean, I don’t understand the point that you’re making. I’m not discounting the importance of the border.”
Recall that President Biden had assigned Harris to handle the border crisis and to address the diplomatic measures related to its “root causes.” Despite intense pressure, she is yet to visit and surveil the situation for herself.
The reversal of former President Donald Trump’s border policies by Biden’s administration has prompted a flood of Central American and Mexican illegal migrants at the US border, including thousands of unescorted children.
Central Americans looking for refuge from the Northern Triangle countries Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras have taken these policy moves, as well as the overwhelmingly more welcoming tone from Democrats, as a sign that President Biden is inviting them to cross the border. With over 170,000 illegal crossings the border a month, it is believed that migrants are flooding the border because they except that President Biden will welcome them with open arms.
According to Homeland Security Secretary; Alejandro who insisted that the border was not facing a crisis, said in early March that the problems the agency faced should be blamed on the previous administration.
However, Harris’ brief snap at the Univision anchor; Ilia Calderón has gone viral on social media.
Here is the video below. Kindly watch and let’s have your opinion.
