Instead of attacking Vice President Kamala Harris for avoiding the southern border, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Republicans “need more to do”
During the White House daily briefing, a reporter noted, “Republicans have been quite critical of the vice president,” “I’ve seen that and they need more to do, I think,” Psaki interjected.
At their press conference on Wednesday, House Republicans displayed a milk carton with the vice president’s face on it and the words “Missing at the border” written beneath it.
President Biden appointed Harris as a point person on the migrant crisis, tasked with dealing with the countries from which the migrants are coming.
Harris has no plans to travel to the border, but she will be in Mexico and Guatemala. “agreed to lead our diplomatic effort and work with those nations to accept the returnees, and enhance migration enforcement at their borders – at their borders.” Biden said of Harris in the role.
While Harris’ role in the border surge was to address root causes with Northern Triangle countries, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas would focus on “what is going on the border.” according to Harris.
Republicans have said, however, that Harris needs to see for herself what is happening at the border in order to know how to respond.
“The confusion is perplexing to me,” Psaki said, adding that Biden, as Obama’s vice president, had served in a similar role to Harris as the Northern Triangle point person. “That’s obviously a role that’s focused on diplomacy, focused on working with these countries, with these leaders.”
Images of children crammed into detention centers in South Texas, combined with statistics showing a record number of migrant arrests this year, are putting more pressure on the administration to act. So far, it has constructed a number of additional facilities and reached an agreement with countries south of the border to increase troop presence at their respective borders.
