Kamala Harris’ 14 Days of Silence Since Being Tapped for Border Crisis Role

"P20210218LJ-0157" (United States government work) by The White House

The Vice President who was supposedly tapped for a border crisis role has gone 14 days without a news conference. 

Vice President Kamala Harris continues to avoid visiting the U.S.-Mexico border or even provide a news conference about her border-related duties despite having the time to visit Southern California over the Easter weekend.

Late last month, Biden tapped Harris to “lead” efforts to address migration at the southern border, where the nation is facing an ongoing crisis amid the massive influx of migrants coming to the United States. 

However, since being assigned to do this duty, the Vice President has kept mum about the issue and now has gone 14 days without holding a news conference about her new border duties. 

The Vice President has also failed to drop by the border during her visit last weekend to her home in Los Angeles, where according to the Los Angeles Times, she baked a “beautiful” pork roast and made rice and peas.

On Monday, Harris has the time to be in Oakland to promote Biden’s infrastructure plan and visited local businesses. During that visit, she also voiced her support to California Governor Gavin Newsom to shake off a recall. 

On Tuesday, the Vice President visited Chicago to brag about Biden’s vaccine effort and urged residents to get their shots against Coronavirus. Her visit to Chicago is coincidentally the same day that Biden directed states to open vaccine eligibility for everyone ages 16 and older starting April. This is a move up his deadline by two weeks. 

Harris said, “We’re all here to make a statement we understand the significance of getting vaccinated, that it’s bigger than us.” She continued, “We are doing it because we know this is a room of role models and people look to you to see how things should be done.”

Her assigned efforts on immigration include overseeing diplomatic efforts with Northern Triangle countries. This duty fits into a broader trend of the administration delegating important foreign policy duties for her. 

For instance, Harris had solo calls with major world leaders such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu. 

However, since the start of the administration and the week after Biden’s announcement that he is tapping Harris to handle the border crisis, the VP has fielded questions from the media and has yet to hold a formal news conference to address the issue. 

Meanwhile, the crisis at the southern border had captured the nation’s attention. It raised a series of concerns about the country’s national security and the stability of the U.S. immigration system as a whole. 

When Biden initially announced that he is appointing Harris to handle the border crisis, the President said she would be in charge of working to “return migrants to their home countries. 

Biden said, “So this new surge we’re dealing with now started with the last administration, but it’s our responsibility to deal with it humanely and to – and to stop what’s happening.”

The President added, “And so, this increase has been consequential, but the vice president has agreed – among the multiple other things that I have her leading – and I appreciate it – agreed to lead our diplomatic effort and work with those nations to accept re- – the returnees, and enhance migration enforcement at their borders – at their borders.”

However, the White House later tried to brush off the statement by claiming that Harris was not involved with the “border crisis” but instead is focused on addressing the “root causes” and not the border itself. 

The overwhelming influx of migrants at the border has led to viral pictures of individuals packed into close quarters sleeping side by side in a cage-like structure, despite Coronavirus concerns. The images that surfaced raised questions about two of Biden-Harris’ campaigns’ central attacks on former President Trump.

During the campaign, Biden lambasted Trump for not taking COVID-19 seriously and assailed his purported cruelty in placing “migrant children in cages.”

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