Harris’ Border Trip is a Useless PR Stunt

Three months after being tasked with handling the border crisis, Vice President Kamala Harris finally visited the border on June 25 – just days after former President Donald Trump announced he was going to visit the southern border on June 30 with Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) and a group of other Republicans.

Here’s the catch: Harris visited El Paso, a city more than 800 miles away from the epicenter of the crisis in the Rio Grande Valley. El Paso has seen 113,824 apprehensions. Comparatively, the Rio Grande Valley has nearly 300,000.

Because of this, her choice to visit El Paso has been largely criticized by Republicans. Congressman Rick Allen (R-Ga.) tweeted that Harris is “intentionally avoiding the Rio Grande Valley. If she was serious about addressing this humanitarian crisis, she would go to the Donna Facility where [Customs and Border Protection] CBP has been overwhelmed with record levels of unaccompanied minors.”

Congresswoman Yvette Herrell (R-N.M.) tweeted, “Visiting the border needs to be more than just checking a box. To truly understand the Biden Border Crisis, [Harris] needs to hear from the ranchers, farmers, and residents who live with the effects of this administration’s failing policies.”

GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) wrote “Kamala Harris should have visited the border months ago. She now has a chance to see what 100+ House Republicans have already witnessed firsthand: the Biden administration’s open-border policies have created a crisis where children are endangered, families are exploited, and drug cartels are emboldened.”

Furthermore, it’s clear that the Biden administration’s only plan to stem the crisis is by telling foreign nationals “do not come.” They have torn down every safeguard placed there by the previous administration and continue to leave our border unsecured. In the words of Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar (TX), the Democrats view the southern border as the new Ellis Island.

While it is good that the Vice President visited the border, it is clear that VP Harris’ trip to El Paso was nothing more than checking a box and it is unlikely any sort of action to stem the crisis will result.