- Biden tapped his VP to run point on the border shortly after becoming president
- She has not been involved in recent Senate negotiations on a border and national security aid package
- ‘Harris has had three years to secure the border and stop the open flow of illegal immigrants into our country,’ Speaker Johnson shot back Tuesday
Border czar and Vice President Kamala Harris said on Monday a pathway to citizenship is needed to end the crisis of migration at the southern border – as Congress tries to hash out a policy solution.
‘There’s no question that our immigration system is broken,’ Harris said in an interview on CNN.
‘So much so that as the first bill that we offered after our inauguration, was to fix the immigration system, which included what we must do to create a pathway for citizenship and to put the resources that are needed into the border. But sadly, people on the other side of the aisle have been playing politics with this issue.’
Biden tapped his VP to run point on the border shortly after becoming president. The White House later backtracked and said Harris’ priorities were to address the ‘root causes’ of migration.
‘There’s no question that our immigration system is broken,’ Harris said in an interview on CNN
‘The solution includes putting resources at the border to do what we can to process people effectively, and putting in place laws that actually allow for a meaningful, meaningful pathway to citizenship,’ Harris said.
Her comments come as the Senate is locked into fraught discussions on a sprawling national security package that would include Ukraine and Israel aid in exchange for border security provisions. The deal is unlikely to include a pathway to citizenship.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, however, has thrown cold water on the Senate deal by insisting that the House will not accept anything less than H.R. 2, his conference’s conservative House border bill. That bill is a nonstarter for Democrats.
‘Harris has had three years to secure the border and stop the open flow of illegal immigrants into our country,’ Johnson shot back at the vice president’s comments in a statement Tuesday.
‘Yet, when asked about her solutions, she recommended that Congress grant mass amnesty and spend taxpayer dollars to process – not stop – more illegals. Her ‘solution’ is to spend billions of additional taxpayer dollars and incentivize the lawlessness and chaos.’
He went on: ‘This answer from President Biden’s ‘border czar’ is exactly why the administration can’t be trusted to solve the catastrophe they, themselves, created. Their idea is to attract millions more aliens, cause more pain, and further surrender America’s national and economic security.’
Harris, despite being tapped by Biden to lead the immigration issue, has not been seen in recent negotiations between the Senate and the White House.
Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas has been back and forth on Capitol Hill amid the talks, as have other White House staff.
He is also separately under a GOP-led impeachment investigation, which is expected to result in an impeachment vote next week.
![About 500 Honduran and Venezuelan migrants begin the march towards the U.S. border](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/23/21/80378731-12997979-image-a-3_1706045542386.jpg)
About 500 Honduran and Venezuelan migrants begin the march towards the U.S. border
![Some 300,000 migrants attempted to cross into the U.S. through the U.S.-Mexico border in December](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/23/21/80378733-12997979-image-a-2_1706045540169.jpg)
Some 300,000 migrants attempted to cross into the U.S. through the U.S.-Mexico border in December
![More than one million people have been allowed into the U.S. under the Biden administration on the basis of parole alone, according to a new CBS report.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/23/21/80378725-12997979-image-a-4_1706045544226.jpg)
More than one million people have been allowed into the U.S. under the Biden administration on the basis of parole alone, according to a new CBS report.
The vice president declined to weigh in on CNN on the status of the bipartisan talks.
‘I will tell you that the negotiations that are happening right now, I hope are going to be directed at solutions that are genuinely focused on fixing the problem,’ Harris said.
Negotiations on the deal have dragged on for months, with only murky details leaking out into the public. Negotiators are believed to be hung up over reining in the Biden administration’s use of parole authority to allow migrants into the country.
It comes as border crossings have reached formerly unimaginable records. Some 300,000 migrants attempted to cross into the U.S. through the U.S.-Mexico border in December.
More than one million people have been allowed into the U.S. under the Biden administration on the basis of parole alone, according to a new CBS report.
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