(PresidentialHill.com)- Vice President Kamala Harris, who was appointed to lead America’s efforts to solve the migrant crisis at the southern border, said recently that the problem is now Congress’ to tackle.
This week, the vice president said the White House is prepared to do whatever it can to manage the surge of people who are seeking asylum through the U.S. southern border. She said she expects a new surge once pandemic-era border restrictions eventually end.
She also added, though, that Congress has to put back in place border reforms to better deal with immigration.
Before the Supreme Court put a temporary halt on ending Title 42 on Monday, the public health order passed under former President Donald Trump was set to expire on Wednesday. That order restricted migrants from crossing into the United States through the southern border with Mexico.
The attorneys general from 19 different Republican-led states have said that lifting Title 42 would result in a huge surge of illegal immigrants through the southern border. Just in recent weeks, potentially in anticipation of Title 42 ending, there’s been an increase in the number of people who’ve attempted to come to America.
In a recent interview with NPR, just a few hours before the high court handed down its temporary stay on Title 42, Harris said:
“I think that there is so much that needs to happen to address the issue (of immigration). And, sadly, what we have seen in particular, I am said to say, from Republicans in Congress is an unwillingness to engage in any meaningful reform that could actually fix a lot of what we are witnessing.”
President Joe Biden put the onus on addressing the root causes of the surge of migrants at the southern border on the back of Harris, but many people have been critical about her efforts to do so thus far — or lack thereof.
In speaking with NPR, Harris said that the Biden administration would plan to increase technology that would help to process asylum cases in a more efficient manner, while also adding more agents to serve near the southern border.
That being said, Harris also added that Congress would have to take the lead on the larger issues related to immigration and the migrant crisis. As she said:
“Reform of our immigration system can only happen through Congress in terms of the passage of an immigration bill that allows for a legal pathway to citizenship and a legal presence in the country.”
Harris also went off on Republicans who were trying to use the migrants to score points politically. Republican Governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas have both sent thousands of migrants from their home states to liberal parts of the U.S., including New York City, Martha’s Vineyard and even just outside Harris’ home in Washington, D.C.
This has created plenty of headlines, and has given these governors a national platform to criticize Harris and the Biden administration’s immigration policies in general.
