India — US President Joe Biden has handed vice-president Kamala Harris her biggest challenge of their administration: the developing immigration crisis at the southern border.
“I’ve asked her, the VP, today – because she’s the most qualified person to do it – to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that help – are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border,” Biden said at the White House.
In response, Harris said, “Thank you, Mr President and for having the confidence in me. And there’s no question that this is a challenging situation.”
There have been reports of a surge of undocumented migrants, even unaccompanied children from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador – the so-called Northern Triangle countries – arriving up at the Mexican border with the United States seeking entry.
Unlike the Trump administration that had turned away these children, sparking international outrage, the Biden administration is allowing them entry.
Biden pushed back against the growing narrative of an immigration crisis, saying “this new surge we’re dealing with now started with the last administration”. But, he added, his administration will deal with it.
Harris will lead that effort – working with the governments of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to persuade them to keep their people from heading for the US border, traversing across Mexico – through diplomacy, backed with US aid.