Better late than never?
This Friday, Vice President Harris will be making her first trip to the US-Mexico Border. Harris was put in charge of the border many months ago but has yet to survey the situation that has reached a critical mass that is spilling over like never before. Harris made a preliminary trip to Guatemala and Mexico earlier this month – presumably to stem the flow of migrants. “Do not come.” Harris pleaded, knowing she’d allowed work to pile up at her office. “Do not come. The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border.” A statement that was chastised for the joke that it was.
It was becoming widely speculated that this trip would never occur; such a long time had passed since being tasked with the border crisis, and the situation had already metastasized to such a degree, that there was seemingly nothing to gain from a visit politically. It was for the best, from an advisory standpoint, to simply let the issue fall out of the public interest. It was probably not even up to Harris.
Press Security Psaki said to reporters, “I will note that I’ve also said here from this podium and she has also said, that when it was the right time, she may go to visit the border.”
She may go. Does this imply the team was mulling it over? Or, perhaps more unsettlingly, that she would receive permission?
But, like the wrecking ball he is, Trump struck and forced the White House’s hand.
Donald Trump, who made numerous visits to the border of his own accord and without prompting, oversaw a precipitous drop in illegal crossings due in no small part to his stern stance on the issue. President Trump will be touring the overwhelmed facilities (many of which did not need to be open under his administration) with Texas Governor Greg Abbot. This announced coming just days before his first rally of the year in Wellington, Ohio.
If Harris and Biden want to address the crisis at the border, then maybe they should revisit their words while they campaigned.
