WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has tapped Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the White House effort to tackle the migration challenge at the U.S. southern border and work with Central American nations to address root causes of the problem.
Biden made the announcement as he and Harris met at the White House on Wednesday with Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandra Mayorkas and other immigration advisers to discuss the increase in migrants, including many unaccompanied minors, arriving at the border in recent weeks.
“When she speaks, she speaks for me,” Biden said, noting her past work as California’s attorney general makes her specially equipped to lead the administration’s response.
“Needless to say, the work will not be easy,” Harris said. “But it is important work.”
Meantime, Harris was criticized for seemingly laughing at the border issues during a brief chat with reporters this week.
Kamala Harris LAUGHS at question about visiting the border …. nauseating pic.twitter.com/N7qGcMHdef
— ASC _USA 🇺🇸 (@ASC_US) March 22, 2021
Harris is tasked with overseeing diplomatic efforts to deal with issues spurring migration in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, as well as pressing them to strengthen enforcement on their own borders, administration officials said. She’s also tasked with developing and implementing a long-term strategy that gets at the root causes of migration from those countries.
Biden suggested President Donald Trump’s decision to cut $450 million funding in 2019 to the region was partly to blame for the situation.
Among the other reasons for the current increase: the thousands of Central American migrants already stuck at the border for mo
