Vice President Kamala Harris is finally visiting the U.S.-Mexico border at the El Paso Border Facility that is being referred to as “the new Ellis Island.” The vice president’s destination is hundreds of miles from the actual crisis.
It has been over 90 days since she was tapped by President Biden to handle the border mess and the press grilled her on the issue: “It’s not my first trip. I’ve been to the border many times,” Harris reportedly snapped at reporters after landing in El Paso, Texas. She added: “I said back in March I was going to come to the border, so this is not a new plan.”
Harris was joined by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX), and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the trip to Texas. A smiling Escobar welcomed migrants to El Paso, proclaiming on the tarmac Friday that it was “the new Ellis Island” and “the capital of the border.”
"The New Ellis Island." Democrats aren't even hiding it anymore. They're inviting people to come illegally and continuing the Biden administration trend of America Last. pic.twitter.com/Nbl9TXKzRk
— For America (@ForAmerica) June 25, 2021
The vice president was greeted by a number of not-so-welcoming protesters as she arrived as well.
Protesters outside the border station in El Paso greet VP Kamala Harris
pic.twitter.com/84CfodSGeJ— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 25, 2021
A protester in El Paso spoke to cameras saying the vice president has come ‘too late.’
“We’ve had this border crisis for years,” the woman said. “We need solutions. We don’t need you parading in the border patrol stations or acting like you care.”
The Border Patrol’s labor union slammed Harris for visiting one of the quietest parts of the border.
“You don’t go to El Paso to see what is actually going on at the border,” stated Brandon Judd, who is president of the National Border Patrol Council, during a Fox News interview.
He pointed out that the El Paso sector is relatively well-secured and that Harris should have instead visited McAllen, Texas, where the most migrant apprehensions are taking place, or Tucson, AZ, where the greatest number of migrants are successfully evading agents.
It's like she went to Europe. pic.twitter.com/UUYWM9PLAr
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) June 25, 2021
The vice president of the Border Patrol’s union, Art Del Cueto, was even blunter when it came to Harris’ choice of El Paso, calling it a “slap in the face.”
“If she really wanted to see what was going on, she would go to the hot zones,” Del Cueto told Fox News.
Critics of Harris are complaining that the trip is nothing more than a rush-job to beat former President Trump to the punch since he is visiting the border next week. Retired Acting ICE Director Tom Homan said it was appalling that Trump had to shame Harris into visiting the border.
(Video Credit: Fox News)
Harris said after exiting Air Force One: “We are here today to address and to talk about what has brought people to the US border. And again, to continue to address the root causes which cause people to leave and often flee their home country.”
“The important aspect of this visit is leading this visit after the work that we did in Guatemala and Mexico… The reality of it is that we have to deal with causes and we have to deal with the effects,” she posited. “So being in Guatemala, being in Mexico, talking with Mexico as a partner, frankly, on the issue, was about addressing the causes. And then coming to the border at the advice and actually the invitation of [Escobar], is about looking at the effects of what we have seen happening in Central America.”
Harris also stated for the press: “I’m glad to be here. It was always the plan to come here. And I think we’re gonna have a good and productive day.”
She met and spoke with agents following her statements. Then Harris toured the El Paso facility.
When President Trump was asked about Harris visiting the border by Newsmax, he said he supported it as long as she actually visited areas where the crisis was occurring instead of “a part of the border that is seldom violated.”
“I think she should go to the border,” Trump said, “I think she should go to the real part of the border, not a part of the border that is seldom violated.”
“Look, the border is causing death at a level that nobody’s ever seen before, you know, you have people dying in the deserts and they have no water,” he added, “They’re coming in by the thousands, and they’re coming in sick.”
“They’re spreading disease to our country,” Trump remarked while noting “just unbelievable how bad it is.”
“After months of ignoring the crisis at the Southern Border, it is great that we got Kamala Harris to finally go and see the tremendous destruction and death that they’ve created — a direct result of Biden ending my very tough but fair Border policies,” Trump remarked. “Harris and Biden were given the strongest Border in American history. And now, it is by far the worst in American history.”
“If Governor Abbott and I weren’t going there next week, she would have never gone!” the former president proclaimed.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, spokeswoman Symone Sanders defended the timing and location of the trip, saying, “this administration does not take their cues from Republican criticism, nor from the former president of the United States of America.” She added: “The Vice President has said, over the course — over the last three months, that she would go to the border. She has been before. She would go again. She would go when it was appropriate when it made sense.”
“I will note that El Paso being the birthplace — birthplace of the previous administration’s family separation policy is an important part of the story here and one that you can expect we will continue to tell tomorrow on the ground,” Sanders concluded.
Conservatives were not impressed with the location or the timing of Harris’ trip:
Three months ago, I joined some of my colleagues from the @GOPoversight Committee on a trip to El Paso, the city @RepEscobar just called the new "Ellis Island".
The crisis is nothing to be proud of. Children are being moved by the cartel, and drugs are flooding the country. pic.twitter.com/H7rqhpGFKT
— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) June 25, 2021
Dem Rep Veronica Escobar in El Paso just said "Welcome to the new Ellis Island!" This during Kamala Harris trip to border. Kamala is on the defensive. This orchestrated tightly-controlled visit to a town hundreds of miles from ground zero RGV Del Rio is absurd. #KamalaHarris
— Marty Davis (@MartyDavis) June 25, 2021
For Rep Escobar:
If El Paso is the new Ellis Island, can you walk us through the process that Ellis Island used?— P3Driver…..Hitter of pipe (@p3driver) June 25, 2021
My grandparents came over through Ellis Island. They came over LEGALLY. They signed NATURALIZATION FORMS pledging their allegiance to their new country (not losing their heritage) but being Americans first and following OUR LAWS. To come here: 1. legally 2. assimilate
— Jozef (@PolskaJoe) June 25, 2021
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