Last week, top Biden officials had a meeting on border security in Mexico City, but Vice President Kamala Harris, the administration’s ‘border czar,’ did not attend.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and US Attorney General Merrick Garland were in attendance at the “high-level security dialogue” in Mexico.
Today's High-Level Security Dialogue marks an important new phase in the US-Mexico security partnership.
— Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (@SecMayorkas) October 8, 2021
We will work together under a new framework to guide our joint efforts, and work toward our shared goals of security and prosperity for our two nations. pic.twitter.com/ZR4I8PSLSW
Thanks to @m_ebrard, @adan_augusto, @rosaicela_ and the rest of the ???? delegation, and to @SecBlinken, @SecMayorkas, and Merrick Garland @TheJusticeDept for making history with this dialogue. #TogetherWeMadeHistory pic.twitter.com/uEXMAAuqaR
— Embajador Ken Salazar (@USAmbMex) October 8, 2021
But Harris visited a daycare and vaccination site instead…in New Jersey.
Learning numbers today at Ben Samuels Children’s Center at Montclair State University. pic.twitter.com/pvZNZED3Yr
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) October 8, 2021
“@VP Kamala Harris, the Biden administration’s ‘border czar,’ sampled goods at a New Jersey bakery on Friday— while other White House officials met with their Mexican counterparts in a bid to get a handle on the ongoing illegal immigration crisis.” @nypost https://t.co/9uekE0CDVS
— Chad Gilmartin (@ChadGilmartinCA) October 9, 2021
Though President Biden tapped Harris to lead the administration's response to border challenges in March, she only went to Mexico and Guatemala once in June and then briefly stopped in El Paso later that month in a much-criticized trip.
"She is going to El Paso, which is the one area on the southwest border that is mostly controlled. That’s not where the problem is. If she wanted to see how bad it is with the entries, she would go to Rio Grande Valley," National Border Patrol Council VP Art Del Cueto said at the time.
"Instead of going there and talking to the men and women dealing with that crisis and taking care of thousands of unaccompanied children, she picks El Paso because she doesn't want to see the devastation that her administration's policies have caused," Tom Homan, former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief, noted in June.