Daily US Times: Kamala Harris has faced pressure to visit the US-Mexico border as she tackled a record migration spike on her first official overseas trip.
The US Vice President had a testy exchange with a news anchor who asked why she had not gone to the US-Mexico border.
Members of Ms Harris’ own Democratic party meanwhile criticized her after she warned against illegal immigration.
Some 178,000 undocumented migrants arrived at the US border this April, the highest total in more than twenty years.
Ms Harris’ staff initially said the border was part of her portfolio when US President Biden assigned her in March to stem migration from Latin America. But aides have recently been seeking to distance Mr Harris from the politically toxic crisis.
While recent public polling suggests a generally favourable view of the Biden administration’s policies on the coronavirus pandemic economic decisions, its handling of the immigration crisis has proven less popular.
In an interview with NBC News, Mr Harris was asked whether she had any plans to visit the border, she threw up her arms and responded: “At some point. You know… we are going to the border. We have been to the border.”
When the host pointed out that she herself had not herself visited the region, Mr Harris deflected the question with a laugh, saying: “And I haven’t been to Europe. I don’t understand the point you’re making.”
Ms Harris again brushed off questions about why she had not visited to the border as she spoke to reporters on Tuesday in Mexico.
She said: “It would be very easy to say, we’ll travel to one place and therefore it’s solved. I don’t think anybody thinks that that would be the solution.”
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