WH Tasks Kamala with Solving Border Crisis Then Says Her 'Focus Is Not on the Border'

By Joe Setyon April 26, 2021 at 1:25pm

Amid recent criticism, White House press secretary Jen Paski acknowledged Monday that Vice President Kamala Harris’ “focus is not on the border.”

“Her focus is not on the border,” Psaki told reporters during a White House news briefing.

Instead, Psaki said, Harris is focused on dealing with the “root causes” behind migrants traveling to the U.S. from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

“It’s on addressing the root causes in the Northern Triangle, and that’s why the majority of her time has been spent on working on a diplomatic level,” she said.

‘Her focus is not on ‘the border,’ it’s on addressing the root causes in the northern triangle’ — Watch Jen Psaki respond to Fox News reporter Peter Doocy’s question about VP Harris and immigration pic.twitter.com/TlOgUCJPrf

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) April 26, 2021

“Our focus here is on solutions on making progress on moving these kids out of these facilities and getting them connected with sponsor homes with family members, if possible,” Psaki said.

“If the president or vice president goes down and visits a facility like this, you have to potentially clear some parts out. There’s a lot of security that comes,” the White House press secretary also said, according to Newsweek.

Harris was tapped to be the Biden administration’s point person on immigration-related issues that have led to the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border late last month, Politico reported. According to Fox News, “The White House later clarified that Harris wasn’t involved with the ‘border crisis,’ but was instead focused on addressing the “root causes — not the border.”

Do you think Harris is capable of solving the border crisis?

“I can think of nobody who is better qualified to do this,” President Joe Biden told reporters at the time.

Since then, though, Harris has gone more than a month without giving a news conference, according to Fox News.

She has also not traveled to the southern border.

A recent Fox survey, meanwhile, showed that 46 percent of respondents said it’s worse right now than it was two years ago.

Sixteen percent, on the other hand, said it was better.

“If it’s not the southern border, Kamala will be there,” Arizona GOP Rep. Andy Biggs tweeted Monday.

If it’s not the southern border, Kamala will be there.

— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) April 26, 2021

Today would be a good day for Vice President Harris to visit the southern border.

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) April 26, 2021

“Today would be a good day for Vice President Harris to visit the southern border,” the Twitter account for Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee added.

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Tags:

Biden administration, Border crisis, Illegal immigration, Immigration, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Politics, U.S. News

Joe Setyon

Deputy Managing Editor, Editorial

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Joe Setyon was a deputy managing editor for The Western Journal who had spent his entire professional career in editing and reporting. He previously worked in Washington, D.C., as an assistant editor/reporter for Reason magazine.

@JoeSetyon

Joe Setyon was deputy managing editor for The Western Journal with several years of copy editing and reporting experience. He graduated with a degree in communication studies from Grove City College, where he served as managing editor of the student-run newspaper. Joe previously worked as an assistant editor/reporter for Reason magazine, a libertarian publication in Washington, D.C., where he covered politics and wrote about government waste and abuse.

Birthplace

Brooklyn, New York

Topics of Expertise

Sports, Politics