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Harris to visit US-Mexico border

Harris to visit US-Mexico border

28 News 06/23/2021 1609

Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the US-Mexico border this week for the first time since taking a lead role in immigration issues, officials said on Wednesday, amid continued pressure on the Biden administration to address the growing number of migrants coming from Central America.

In a statement, Harris' spokesperson, Symone Sanders said the vice president will travel to El Paso, Texas, on Friday and will be accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Former President Donald Trump, who made curbing immigration a focus of his presidency and has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration's handling of the immigration issue, last week announced plans to visit the US-Mexico border on June 30 with Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

After months of ignoring the crisis at the Southern Border, it is great that we got Kamala Harris to finally go and see the tremendous destruction and death that they've created – a direct result of Biden ending my very tough but fair Border policies, Trump said in a statement today.
If Governor Abbott and I weren't going there next week, she would have never gone! Trump continued.

According to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, more than 180,000 migrants were apprehended at the border during the month of May, a 20-year high.

The rise in numbers came after Biden – who took office in January – reversed several key anti-immigration policies put in place by his predecessor, Trump.

He stopped a policy called "Remain in Mexico" that required asylum seekers to wait for their US court dates in Mexico, halted the construction of a border wall with Mexico, and relaxed eligibility rules for gaining asylum.

At the same time, Biden has left in place a border policy known as Title 42, expelling in five months more than 400,000 migrants detained at or near the border, including many Central American families and asylum seekers sent back to Mexico.

Nearly 3,300 migrants stranded in Mexico since January have been kidnapped, raped, trafficked, or assaulted, according to a report by Human Rights First, a rights group.

Senator Ted Cruz blasted the Biden administration for reversing Trump's border policies.

Kamala Harris needs to look in the eyes of the children who are suffering because of Joe Biden's failed immigration policies, Cruz said today on Fox News.
That's when they need to end catch and release, and they need to reinstate the ‘Remain in Mexico' international agreement that had solved this problem until Joe Biden and Kamala Harris screwed it up, Cruz said.

Biden administration officials say they want to reform the nation's immigration system and put in place more "humane" border policies. Biden has also tasked Harris with overseeing programs that tackle what is called the "root causes" of migration: lack of economic opportunities, crime, and corruption.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that Harris' trip is coordinated with the Department of Homeland Security as well as the Department of Health and Human Services in order "to continue to address the root causes and work in coordination to get the situation under control".

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES


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