House Republicans have passed a resolution essentially condemning the job Vice President Kamala Harris has done as the “border czar”.
Early on in his presidency, Biden put Harris in charge of finding ways to address the root causes of illegal immigration. The term “border czar” has been dissected recently by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
The White House has said that Harris was never “in charge” of formulating border policy, but rather focused on examining and improving the underlying conditions of a handful of Central American countries where many illegal immigrants come from. These include El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
Regardless of the definition of Harris’ job when it comes to the border, encounters with illegal immigrants at the southern border increased significantly under President Biden’s tenure in office. In fact, data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows encounters were at record highs for each of the first three years of Biden’s term.
Republicans in Congress are placing the blame for these increases at the feet of Harris.
“Look at the the chart and ask yourself, ‘How did Vice President Harris do as the person in charge of the border’,” asked Rep. Rudy Yakym (R-IN-2nd). “In September of 2022, Harris said ‘The border is secure.’ Look at that chart and ask yourself if it was then and if it is now.”
In the last year, President Biden has used executive action to place restrictions on those seeking asylum in the U.S. by crossing the border illegally. Since that action was taken encounters and border crossings have dipped by just over 50-percent.
Democrats have touted Biden’s executive action as taking initiative on the matter given that Republicans blocked a bill last year that would have sent lots more aid to the border to help quell illegal immigration. Republicans balked at that due to the amount of money Democrats were also looking to send assistance to Ukraine and Israel totaling over $74 billion.
Yakym was part of the team of Republicans tasked with debating in favor of the aforementioned resolution.
“Kamala Harris talks a lot about her love of Venn diagrams,” he added on X. “Unfortunately for Americans, the Venn diagram of border security and VP Harris’s tenure as Biden’s border czar are two separate circles. Harris owns this border crisis and the sheer chaos it’s causing across America.”
The resolution passed with five Democrats joining every Republican in voting “yes.”
