Kamala Harris Caves Into Peer Pressure

This was written by Myla, one of our student interns. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue.

After almost three weeks of heavy criticism and backlash from both sides of the aisle, Vice President Harris has finally visited the United States-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas. According to Politico, she was accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Representative Veronica Escobar of El Paso. Earlier this month, Harris visited Central America without visiting the southern border. She received immediate backlash from the media, politicians, and the general public. Harris and her team ignored the criticism and declared that she is focused on fixing the root causes of migration. However, it seems like the Vice President finally caved into peer pressure. 

When Air Force 2 landed in El Paso, Harris immediately spoke to a group of reporters. “I’m glad to be here. It was always the plan to come here,” she asserted. While I am satisfied with Harris’s decision, I find it very hard to believe that she was always planning to visit the border. I believe that she wanted to shift the narrative in the media. In an unfortunate turn of events, former President Donald Trump announced his trip to the border within the same week as Harris. In typical Trump nature, the former president had to take credit for the current administration’s decision. “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…,” Trump stated. “Harris and Biden were given the strongest Border in American history. And now, it is by far the worst in American history. Of course, he did not stop there. He released another statement claiming that if he and Texas Governor Greg Abbott “weren’t going there next week, she would have never gone!”

Not only is the Vice President getting backlash from Republicans about the timing of her trip, but she has also already received criticism about not visiting Rio Grande Valley (RGV). Rio Grande Valley is considered one of the most chaotic sectors of the border. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protections, the location has about 160,000 more apprehensions than El Paso. Therefore, some Republican leaders have suggested that the Vice President should have visited RGV instead. 

If you thought the Republicans had enough of attacking the VP, more than 50 House Republicans are urging President Biden to remove Harris from her role of handling immigration. Quite frankly, it seems as though Harris cannot catch a break this month. As I mentioned in my previous blog post on Harris, she is having a godawful season. No matter what she does, she will receive flak for it. However, while she has made many mistakes, one must give her mercy. The Biden administration has taken on a huge challenge with the border crisis. Trump’s administration separated families, encouraged ICE to raid immigrants’ homes, and placed thousands of migrants in inhumane detention centers. Kamala Harris truly has her work cut out for her. When will this humanitarian crisis end? Well, time will tell.