Washington, DC – Don’t believe the daily lies from Joe Biden’s administration: there is in fact a raging crisis at our southern border.
Customs and Border Protections (CBP) expects to have encountered over 171,000 migrants in the month of March alone, including 18,800 unaccompanied children. In March 2020, under the strong leadership of President Trump, the CBP saw only 34,000 migrants.
When in September 2019 Biden told illegal immigrants ”you should come” to America, they clearly listened. This is Joe Biden’s problem.
Now it’s Kamala Harris’ problem, too. Two weeks ago, Biden named Harris as his “point person” to address the ongoing surge of men, women and children flooding our immigration system. Given the scale of the crisis – exemplified by children being thrown over walls and the clear potential of a COVID-19 super-spreading event – one would expect the vice president to immediately jump on Air Force Two and get to the border. Right?
Wrong. Instead, she’s joining her boss in refusing to go see the crisis that their reckless, backward policies have created. Maybe she doesn’t want pictures next to the children sleeping in cages. Maybe she’s too busy complaining about living in a 70,000-square-foot mansion (seriously).
Harris hasn’t even taken the time to hold a press conference since allegedly taking charge of the border situation. She is working harder on avoiding accountability for the crisis than she is on trying to fix it.
It gets worse. She traveled to California – a border state – Easter weekend with no plans whatsoever to make an appearance at the border. Instead, she spent time in Los Angeles and Oakland, without scheduling public events. This comes after border state governors have openly pleaded with her to show up in person and help solve the problem.
Taking a California vacation on the taxpayer’s dime when there’s a humanitarian crisis raging mere miles to the south is cynical, weak and fundamentally uncaring.
Harris’ failure to do even the bare minimum – just showing up – is an insult to the people working overtime at the border to care for the thousands of unaccompanied children that are here due to her administration’s policies. They are working under immense stress to provide some level of safety and comfort even as the system is stretched to the breaking point.
And they’re trying desperately to prevent a serious COVID-19 outbreak while being exposed to the virus themselves.
It would have been incredibly easy for Harris to add a stop on her trip to show her support and to console, comfort and lead on the ground. She has her own plane. The flight time from LA to San Diego is about 30 minutes.
It is worth remembering that Harris once compared these hardworking, overstretched border workers to members of the Ku Klux Klan. Perhaps Joe Biden should have considered that before passing the buck on his administration’s signature crisis to his vice president.
Making such an incendiary, false and divisive comment about the men and women who protect our border shows Harris’ depth of disregard for her fellow citizens. That comment alone renders her unfit to be the “border czar” or “crisis manager” for this crisis even though her position appears to be largely ceremonial.
Biden frequently plays up Harris’ influence and significance. He asks that we refer to his administration as the Biden-Harris administration and on multiple occasions has referred to her as president. If Harris’ shameful avoidance of the border crisis is any indication, Biden is as bad a judge of leadership qualities as he is a president.
Ronna McDaniel
Ronna McDaniel is chair of the Republican National Committee.
Follow her on Twitter @GOPChairwoman.