Critics have lashed out at the United States Vice President, Kamala Harris over her resolve not to visit the U.S. Southern border.
Gatekeepers News reports that Harris’s staff had earlier said the border was part of her responsibility when U.S President Joe Biden assigned her in March to stem migration from Latin America.
Kamala Harris, who was on a diplomatic mission in the Northern Triangle, visited Mexico on Tuesday and met Mexican President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador but failed to visit the US southern boundary.
The Vice President was, during an interview, questioned on why she had not gone to the border. Harris however said she had visited the U.S -Mexico border when she was a senator for California.
Harris embarked on a two-day visit to Guatemala and Mexico, her first official trip since she assumed office. She met both countries’ leaders in a bid to bolster diplomatic ties and help stem undocumented migration to the US.
Gatekeepers News gathered that no fewer than 178,000 undocumented migrants arrived at the U.S Southern border in April, the highest total in over two decades.
On Tuesday, she quoted Mexican President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador to have said that it was in the interests of both countries to address the root causes of migration.
Critics have said there is inconsistency in Harris speech due to her Monday’s emphasis that illegal migrants should not embark on a journey to the U.S. “Do not come,” she stressed during her visit to Guatemala, adding that: “If you come to our border, you will be turned back.”
Her remark appeared to have contradicted the Biden administration’s promise to usher in a more friendly method to migration and ignored the fact that requesting asylum is a legal right.
Harris, while running for the presidency in 2019, had criticised then-President Donald Trump for turning away undocumented immigrants at the border.
“What does Donald Trump do?” she said. “He says, ‘go back where you came from.’ That is not reflective of our America and our values and it’s got to end.”
The Vice President’s Monday remark irritated some left-wing members of her own party.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the influential New York City Democratic congresswoman, called the remark “disappointing”.
“First, seeking asylum at any U.S border is a 100% legal method of arrival,” she tweeted.
“Second, the U.S spent decades contributing to regime change and destabilisation in Latin America. We can’t help set someone’s house on fire and then blame them for fleeing.”
Fellow members of her ultraliberal group known as the Squad also criticised Harris, who is herself the daughter of migrants – an Indian-born mother and a Jamaican-born father.
“The right to seek asylum is not just legally protected. It is a foundational universal human right,” tweeted Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who was born in Somalia.
Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib also rebuked Harris, writing: “This whole ‘stay there and die’ approach is not how our country will promote a more humane and just immigration system.”
When Harris was later asked about the criticism, she said: “I’m really clear. We have to deal with the root causes and that is my hope. Period.”
