President Biden on Wednesday announced that VP Kamala Harris will be the point person on the border and its immigration issues.
“I can think of nobody who is better qualified to do this,” the president told reporters at the White House.
Harris’s role will be two-fold:
- working to slow the flow of “irregular migrants” by addressing “the root causes” that prompt them to leave their home countries
- strengthening relationships with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries where the bulk of the migrants arriving at the U.S. border come from
The role puts Harris front and center in an important and politically risky issue for the Biden administration.
Harris acknowledged this, saying there “is no question this is a challenging situation,” but said that she would be looking forward to discussions with the leaders of the nations.
As a candidate, Biden proposed spending $4 billion over four years to tackle violence, climate change and government corruption in the Northern Triangle region — comprised of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. This is the process Harris will oversee.
More at Politico.
