Takeaways: Harris’ approach to migration was more nuanced than critics or allies portray it
WASHINGTON — As thousands of immigrants approached the U.S. border in early 2021, President Joe Biden tapped his deputy to handle the influx. The decision has the vice president Kamala Harris to one of its greatest political burdens.
Harris’ Job was to address the “root causes” of migration from three Central American countries — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — that accounted for a significant share of the border crossers. The vice president took a long-term approach to an immediate problem, convincing multinationals and Latin American companies to invest in the region. That, she argued, would create jobs and give locals more reasons to stay home rather than make the arduous trek north.
Migration from those three Central American countries has been falling steadily, though experts say it’s unlikely Harris’ plan was a major factor. The decline has been overshadowed by a surge in migration from elsewhere in Latin America, and Republicans now blame Harris for all of the myriad problems that have plagued the U.S. southern border during the administration’s tenure.
Here are some things to know about Harris’ record on immigration as vice president.
The GOP and even some media dubbed Harris the “border czar” after she got her assignment from Biden, but that was never her real job. She had no special responsibilities at the border. Those involved in the hottest issue there — negotiations over whether to continue former President Donald Trump’s pandemic immigration policy, known as Title 42 — say the vice president was not involved in that debate.
Biden tasked Harris with working with Central American countries “to accept returning refugees and improve migration enforcement at their borders.” Some critics argue that she dodged that task and focused primarily on long-term investments.
Harris made two trips to Mexico and Central America in 2021 and 2022, including a visit to Guatemala in June 2021, where she told potential migrants: don’t come “to the US During that trip she also went defended the fact she had not been to the US-Mexico border during an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt saying she “hadn’t been to Europe. And I mean, I don’t understand … what you mean.”
That line became part of Trump’s first ad against Harris, blaming her for hundreds of thousands of deaths from fentanyl and crimes committed by people entering the country illegally.
Harris has defended her record. Her campaign kicked off Friday with a TV ad saying that as president, Harris would “hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking.” Democrats have also criticized Trump for helping to defeat a bipartisan immigration bill earlier this year that would have increased funding for border security, including new Customs and Border Protection personnel.
The vice president’s most significant achievement was tapping into a network of business and nonprofit executives to invest in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, known as the Northern Triangle countries.
The work connected multinationals – such as Visa, Nestlé and Meta – with smaller nonprofits and Latin American companies, all of whom pledged to increase their investments or strengthen their work with vulnerable communities.
The Associated Press has contacted all nearly two dozen companiesthe White House praised as participants in Harris’s effort. Some, like Agroamerica, a sustainable food company that pledged to invest more than $100 million in six new projects, reported that work had begun and that they were on track to meet their investment goals. Others, including Columbia Sportswear Company, said they were likely to exceed their goals.
However, most companies either declined to comment or did not respond at all when asked what they had done to deliver on their promises.
The vice president’s office has said that Harris’ outreach has generated more than $5.2 billion in investment pledges. In an illustration of how long it takes for the pledges to translate into actual spending, the State Department reported that businesses nearly $1.3 billion in the region As of June 2024, most of this was in Guatemala and Honduras.
Katie Tobin, who served as the National Security Council’s chief migration adviser for three years, said Harris’ focus helped spur more investment in reducing these numbers. She argued that Harris was able to leverage “her credibility” and the White House’s clout to persuade companies to invest in “a risky investment environment.”
“That was really Kamala Harris,” she added. “I’ve never seen anything like that in this room before, and it was really impactful.”
Republican Senator Rick Scott, a critic of the administration on Latin American issues, questioned whether the White House should really be credited for the corporate investments, arguing that they would have happened even without Harris.
The companies “aren’t doing it because someone asked them to,” said Scott, who co-founded a major medical device company, “they’re doing it because it makes economic sense.”
While the Harris campaign and the White House point to statistics showing that migration from Northern Triangle countries has dropped significantly since the beginning of 2021, the cause of this decline remains debated.
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said Harris and the administration deserve credit for the reduction because their efforts “worked,” adding that Harris’ contribution has been overlooked.
However, independent analysts said they were skeptical about the role played by Harris’s approach. They said the decline was likely driven by other regional factors, including the rise of El Salvador’s new president and his aggressive push to combat violent crime. His administration has reported a 70 percent drop in homicides by 2023.
Julia Gelatt, deputy director of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, says it could take years for investments to change migration patterns, if ever.
“Even a good dose of economic development cannot reduce immigration in the way that countries hope,” Gelatt said.