By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-09-25 13:11:21 | Updated at 2024-10-03 00:20:38
1 week ago
Republicans are ripping Vice President Kamala Harris's second scheduled trip to the U.S.-Mexico border as an 'election-year stunt,' saying she has been central to orchestrating U.S. immigration woes.
The VP 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 went to a Border Patrol processing center and screening area for migrants with asylum claims.
But she never toured the actual border, and has received harsh criticism from Republicans ever since for shirking her role as Biden's 'border czar.'
With her second trip to the border coming just weeks before Election Day and as immigration and border security concerns continually rank as a top worry among voters, GOP lawmakers say the trip is disingenuous after years of inaction.
And voters won't easily forget, 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 is reportedly planning to visit the border for her second time as VP this week
'I guess 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 bit too late,' he continued. 'Fourteen million people over the border. Three hundred thousand kids unaccounted for. [It's] pathetic.'
Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds similarly said its 'too late.'
'It's 100% an election year stunt just to say that she did it, so they can have pictures,' Donalds told DailyMail.com.
'She's not serious. She's only doing it because her poll numbers are tanking by the day. She's had three and a half years to fix it. Why didn't you do it?'
'She'll run around and say, 'Look, I care about the issue,'' he continued. 'It's all a lie.'
Sasabe, Arizona, where the cat and mouse business of trafficking people into the United States illegally continues in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona
Donalds also gave a cheeky suggestion for his Democratic colleague from New York, progressive 'Squad' leader Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was famously photographed crying at the U.S.-Mexico border when Donald Trump was president.
'AOC should go down to the border, and she should cry about the fact that young girls are being sold into sex slavery,' he said.
'That's Kamala Harris's policy, that's Joe Biden's policy that has put young girls at risk at the southern border on both sides of the border.'
Texas GOP Rep. Beth Van Duyne told DailyMail.com 'It's about f***ing time' for Harris to visit the border.
She also said the trip must have been orchestrated due to Harris's low polling in immigration related matters.
'It's a publicity stunt,' she said. 'The only reason why she's going is because polls are showing that it's a losing issue for them.'
GOP Reps. Beth Van Duyne and Byron Donalds both slammed VP Harris's trip to the border as 'too late'
Border Patrol agents take asylum seekers into custody after they crossed a remote part of the U.S.-Mexico on September 19, 2024 near Jacumba Hot Springs, California
Recent surveys have showed that not only does Harris poll behind Trump on border security and immigration matters, but that some voters blame the VP for the issue in the first place.
In 2021, Biden appointed Harris to be in charge of tackling the root causes of immigration.
Republicans then dubbed her the 'border czar' and cast blame for the many crises at the border wall as illegal immigration surged in the past couple years.
Since President Joe Biden and Harris took control of the executive branch illegal immigration has skyrocketed.
Estimates range, but the common refrain 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, like those coming from Trump, claim there could be as many as 20 million or more.
And the Former President Donald Trump could not resist weighing in on the VP's last minute trip on his Truth Social app Tuesday.
Border Patrol agents begin processing dozens of migrants after illegally crossing from Mexico
Vice President visits the control area for asylum seekers upon entering Mexico, the secondary processing area for migrants and the outdoor vehicle inspection area used to screen vehicles crossing the border in search of goods or illegal activities during her trip in 2021
'When Kamala is seen at the border on Friday, she will pass hundreds of miles of wall that was built by Trump, and it is wall that works!' he wrote.
'When she speaks, be advised that this woman has allowed more than 21 million people into our country, totally unvetted, and from places unknown. They are now creating criminal havoc all throughout the country.'
'When she speaks, I hope everybody remembers that she has caused our cities, towns, and country itself, tremendous damage, and only I can fix it!' Trump's statement concluded.
GOP Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., told DailyMail.com: 'I applaud Kamala for trying to get down to the border. But unfortunately, with 42 days left before the elections, it just seems very political, but better late than never, right?'
