Republicans are slamming Vice President Kamala Harris’ second planned trip to the U.S.-Mexico border as an “election year stunt,” saying she played a central role in orchestrating the U.S. immigration woes.
The vice president is expected to visit the border wall in Arizona during a planned trip to the state on Friday. CNN first reported.
Harris previously visited El Paso, Texas, in June 2021, where she toured a Border Patrol processing center and screening area for migrants seeking asylum.
However, she never actually visited the border and has since come under heavy criticism from Republicans for shunning her role as Biden’s “border czar.”
Her second visit to the border comes just weeks before Election Day, and concerns about immigration and border security remain top of mind among voters. GOP lawmakers say the trip is unfair after years of inaction.
And voters will not soon forget that, they warn.
Vice President Kamala Harris stands far from the U.S.-Mexico border, June 25, 2021, at the airport after her tour of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Processing Center in El Paso, Texas. She reportedly plans to visit the border for the second time as VP this week
“I think she found her compass,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., joked about Harris’s trip to DailyMail.com. “She knows where south is.”
“I think it’s a little too late,” he continued. “Fourteen million people across the border. Three hundred thousand children missing. [It’s] miserable.’
Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds also said it’s “too late.”
“It’s 100% an election stunt, just to say she did it so they can take pictures,” Donalds told DailyMail.com.
“She doesn’t mean it. She’s only doing it because her poll numbers are going down by the day. She’s had three and a half years to fix it. Why didn’t you do it?”
“She’ll run around saying, ‘Look, I care about the issue,'” he continued. “It’s all a lie.”
Sasabe, Arizona, where the cat-and-mouse trade of people entering the United States illegally continues in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert
Donald also made a cheeky suggestion for his Democratic colleague from New York, the progressive leader of “Squad,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who rose to fame when she was photographed crying at the U.S.-Mexico border when Donald Trump was president.
“AOC should go to the border and cry about young girls being sold as sex slaves,” he said.
“That’s Kamala Harris’s policy, that’s Joe Biden’s policy, that has put young girls on both sides of the southern border in danger.”
Beth Van Duyne, Texas Republican Rep., told DailyMail.com: “It’s about damn time” for Harris to visit the border.
She also said the trip was likely orchestrated because of Harris’ low poll numbers on immigration issues.
“It’s a publicity stunt,” she said. “The only reason she’s going is because the polls show it’s a losing cause for them.”
GOP Reps. Beth Van Duyne and Byron Donalds both criticized VP Harris’ trip to the border as ‘too late’
Border Patrol agents take asylum seekers into custody after they crossed a remote U.S.-Mexico border near Jacumba Hot Springs, California, on September 19, 2024.
Recent polls show not only that Harris backs Trump on border security and immigration issues, but that some voters blame the vice president primarily for the issue.
In 2021, Biden appointed Harris to oversee tackling the root causes of immigration.
Republicans subsequently dubbed her the “border czar” and blamed her for the many crises at the border wall, which have caused illegal immigration to soar in recent years.
Since President Joe Biden and Harris took office, illegal immigration has skyrocketed.
Estimates vary, but one common sentiment in GOP circles on Capitol Hill is that at least 10 million migrants have been encountered at the border under the current administration.
Higher estimates, such as Trump’s, suggest it could be 20 million or more.
And former President Donald Trump couldn’t resist sharing his thoughts on the vice president’s last-minute trip via his Truth Social app on Tuesday.
Border Patrol agents begin processing dozens of migrants who crossed the border illegally from Mexico
Vice President visits Mexico’s entry screening area for asylum seekers, secondary migrant processing area and outdoor vehicle inspection area used to screen vehicles crossing the border for goods or illegal activity during her 2021 trip
“If Kamala is seen at the border on Friday, she will be passing hundreds of miles of wall built by Trump, and it’s a wall that works!” he wrote.
“When she speaks, be aware that this woman has allowed over 21 million people into our country, totally uncontrolled and from unknown places. They are now causing criminal chaos throughout the country.”
“When she speaks, I hope everyone realizes that she has done tremendous damage to our cities, towns, and our country, and that only I can fix it!” Trump’s statement ended.
GOP Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., told DailyMail.com: ‘I applaud Kamala for trying to reach the border. But unfortunately, with 42 days to go until the election, it just seems very political, but better late than never, right?’