WASHINGTON – House Republicans are moving quickly to emphasize Vice President Kamala Harris's role in the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S. border with Mexico, passing a resolution Thursday that condemns her performance in the job.
The resolution, which is purely symbolic, echoes an attack line that Republican Donald Trump has taken against Harris since she rose to become the likely Democratic presidential nominee. All House Republicans and six Democrats in tough reelection races voted for the resolution.
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President Joe Biden tasked Harris early in his administration with addressing the root causes of migration. Border crossings eventually became a major political liability for Biden when they reached historic levels. Since June, when Biden announced significant restrictions on asylum applications at the border, arrests for illegal crossings have fallen.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said migrant encounters between U.S. ports of entry have dropped more than 55% and are now lower on average than they were at the end of Trump's term.
It remains to be seen whether the border will become a political liability for Harris as it was for Biden. But Republicans say Harris did not do enough to clamp down on illegal immigration in a role they characterized as “border czar.”
“The result of her inaction has been record high illegal crossings, overwhelmed communities, and an evisceration of the rule of law,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
Trump, if elected president, has pledged deport millions of people and has made anti-immigration rhetoric a central focus of his campaign.
The House vote showed some early signs of cracks in the confidence that Democrats have so far bestowed on Harris.
The six Democrats who voted for the resolution — Reps. Yadira Caraveo of Colorado, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, Mary Peltola of Alaska and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state — were all members from battleground districts and had previously been critical of Biden on the border. The measure called for "elected officials who understand the gravity of the crisis at the border and who will execute the policies to fix the border crisis.”
“This isn’t about any one person — it’s about our border not being secure and fentanyl destroying Alaska communities,” Peltola said in a statement.
Caraveo endorsed Harris this week, but the congresswoman emphasized her own independence in a statement after the vote, saying she was sent to Washington to be "an independent voice who will stand up to party leaders when they’re wrong.”
As vice president, Harris was tasked with overseeing diplomatic efforts to deal with issues spurring migration in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, as well as pressing them to strengthen enforcement on their own borders. The Biden administration wanted to develop and put in place a long-term strategy that gets at the root causes of migration from those countries.
Most House Democrats tried to defend how Harris has handled the job.
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said the resolution was “fake and fraudulent" and that Harris was never appointed “border czar,” as the measure stated.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state, who is the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Harris “was narrowly tasked with developing agreements that could help bring government and private sector investments to those countries that are sending migrants to the United States.”
Jayapal said Harris successfully recruited “billions” of dollars in investments for Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Democrats also repeatedly pointed out that Republicans rejected a border and immigration deal that the White House negotiated with Senate GOP leadership earlier this year.
Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York, who won a special election this year on a campaign that focused on border security, said Harris has some potential strengths on the issue. He said Harris' relationship with Mexico’s president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum, and Harris' past as a prosecutor could prove to be assets when it comes to the border.
“I think now she has to emphasize the fact that she recognizes that the southern border is a problem,” Suozzi said.