Under pressure from critics, Harris will visit the US-Mexico border Migration News

Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the U.S.-Mexico border this week for the first time since he took center stage in immigration issues, officials said Wednesday, putting continued pressure on the Biden administration to deal with the number of migrants coming from Central America.

In a statement, Symone Sanders Harris spokeswoman said the vice president will travel to El Paso, Texas on Friday and will be accompanied by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

“Earlier this year, the President called on the Vice President to oversee our diplomatic efforts to address the root causes of migration from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras,” Sanders said.

“As part of that ongoing work, the vice president traveled Guatemala and Mexico at the beginning of the month and will go to El Paso on Friday, ”Sanders added.

During the trip, Harris was attacked by Republicans who criticized him and President Joe Biden for not already visiting the U.S.-Mexico border.

Former President Donald Trump has made reducing immigration a focal point of his presidency and has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for handling the issue of immigration. visit US-Mexico border June 30 with Texas governor Greg Abbott.

“After months of ignoring the Southern Border crisis, it’s wonderful to see the devastating destruction and death that Kamala Harris eventually created – the direct result of Biden as a result of the end of my very harsh but fair border policies,” Trump said in a statement Wednesday.

“If Governor Abbott and I didn’t go next week, he would never go!” Trump continued.

It’s Harris directing efforts To deal with the rising number of Central American migrants in the Biden administration – many of them fleeing poverty and gang violence – those who have crossed the border into the US and Mexico.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, More than 180,000 migrants they were apprehended at the border in May, the highest in 20 years.

The rise in numbers Biden (when he took office in January) pushed back several key anti-immigration policies imposed by his predecessor, Trump.

Former President Donald Trump, who made immigration reduction the focus of his presidency, announced plans to visit the U.S.-Mexico border on June 30. [File: Carlos Barria/Reuters]

He he stopped policy called “Stay in Mexico”This required asylum seekers to wait for U.S. court dates in Mexico, suspend construction of the Mexican border wall and quiet conditions for winning asylum.

At the same time, Biden has left the name of border policy 42. title, expulsion within five months more than 400,000 migrants arrested on or near the border, including Central American families and asylum seekers, were sent to Mexico.

Take it 3,300 migrants those who have been detained in Mexico since January have been kidnapped, raped, trafficked or assaulted, according to a report by the U.S. human rights group Human Rights First.

Republican officials, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz, have attacked Harris for not visiting the border yet [File: Erin Scott/Reuters]

Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, blasted the Biden administration for pushing back Trump’s border policies.

“Kamala Harris needs to look into the eyes of children who are suffering because Joe Biden’s immigration policy has failed,” Cruz told Fox News on Wednesday.

“That’s when they have to end the capture and release, and they have to restore the international‘ Keep it in Mexico ’agreement that was solved until Joe Biden and Kamala Harris screwed it up,” he said.

Biden administration officials have said they want to reform the nation’s immigration system and implement “more humane” border policies. Biden has also blamed Harris for overseeing programs to address what are called the “main causes” of migration: lack of economic opportunities, crime and corruption.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that Harris’ trip is being coordinated with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, “to continue to address the root causes and work to coordinate the situation.”