Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat presidential nominee, evaded the most piercing migration-related question posed by ABC News’s moderators during Tuesday night’s debate. The moderators questioned why the administration took six months before the election to take action against border inflow and if there would have been anything different done by President Joe Biden on this issue.
Harris responded with a detailed account of her experience as a prosecutor, highlighting her past work in dealing with transnational criminal organizations involved in gun and drug trafficking. She also referenced a bipartisan bill that aimed to enhance border security, which she had supported during her time as a senator. This bill would have increased the number of border agents by 1,500, potentially helping to curb the flow of fentanyl into the United States, a drug that has deeply impacted numerous families across the country.
Since January 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris has been instrumental in helping President Joe Biden’s deputies facilitate the migration of at least ten million wealth-shifting, blue-collar, and white-collar migrants from impoverished countries into American workplaces, communities, schools, and hospitals. In December 2023, as the 2024 election gained momentum, members of Biden’s administration rushed to Mexico to plead with the Mexican president to clamp down on migration.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas noted that President Biden had taken notice and dispatched both himself and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Mexico, where they met with Mexican President Lopez Obrador. As a result of these efforts, the number of migrants entering the United States in January saw a sharp decline. However, Vice President Kamala Harris did not participate in these negotiations with Mexico.
This recent meeting occurred over two and a half years after another meeting in March 2021, during which Harris chose not to take on a significant role in shaping immigration policy.