Tipsheet

'You Will Be Turned Back': Harris Claims U.S.-Mexico Border Is Secure

During a Monday afternoon press conference with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, Vice President Kamala Harris claimed that the "United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border" despite the reality along the U.S.-Mexico showing the opposite. 

"We will discourage illegal migration," Harris said, adding "I believe if you come to our border you will be turned back."

As our own Julio Rosas has reported extensively during the Biden administration's mismanagement of the illegal immigration crisis at the southern border, the federal government is woefully failing to secure our nation's southern border. And government data confirms that Biden and Harris are pursuing policies that not only fail to turn back illegal immigrants, the administration releases dangerous individuals into American communities. 

From one of Julio's most recent dispatches from the Rio Grande after a ridealong with the Texas Department of Public Safety:

I spent the past week with Texas Highway Patrol's air and water units to get a firsthand look at how Texas law enforcement is dealing with the historic surge in illegal immigration and drug smuggling that really got going after Joe Biden officially became president. In March, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) initiated Operation Lone Star to address the surge that seems to have only gotten worse as the months have gone on. Similar to what I have heard from Border Patrol agents, the different state troopers I spoke with said they have never seen such a stark uptick in illegal activity at the border as to what they are seeing now.

Having not been to the U.S.-Mexico border herself, Border Czar Harris—who is supposed to be in charge of responding to the dangerous situations arising from the border crisis—hasn't seen situations like those Julio documents each time he visits the region.

Despite not witnessing firsthand what state and federal authorities are up against in the fight to stop illegal immigration and protect those being taken advantage of by coyotes, smugglers, and traffickers, Harris has no shortage of ideas by which she thinks we can solve the illegal immigration crisis. 

Addressing the root cause of migration—which Harris identified as "the lack of economic opportunity" for people in Guatemala and the effects of climate change—she committed the United States to "help create that opportunity."

Harris promised a "young women's empowerment initiative," along with investments in agribusiness and affordable housing for residents of Guatemala. In addition, Harris raised the potential of ecopreneurs who will work to "protect our environment but also see the capacity for jobs and economic development."

It is laughable for Harris to pretend that the Biden administration has secured our border with Mexico after halting construction on the border wall, failing to stem an unprecedented flow of illegal immigration, and a border security system being entirely overwhelmed at the time the Vice President spoke in Guatemala. It's also unsurprising given the administration's repeated claims that the border is "closed" when the opposite remains true. 

Katie summed up the actual reaction to the Vice President's words Monday: "And the criminal human trafficking and smuggling cartels making $20 million a day/$5 billion a year, keep on laughing."