Tipsheet

Did You Catch CBS News' 'Fact-Check' of JD Vance Post-VP Debate?

Madeline Leesman
Madeline Leesman  |  October 02, 2024 1:00 PM

After the vice presidential debate between Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), CBS News released a statement claiming that Vice President Kamala Harris was never appointed the “border czar” by President Joe Biden.

CBS News’ ridiculous “fact-check” was prompted by Vance’s remarks during the debate, where he called Harris the “border czar.”

“Harris was not asked to be the administration’s ‘border czar’ or to oversee immigration policy and enforcement at the U.S.-Mexico border. That has mainly been the responsibility of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and his department, which oversees the country’s main three immigration agencies, including Customs and Border Protection,” the first slide of the fact-check stated.

“President Biden tasked Harris with leading the administration’s diplomatic campaign to address the ‘root causes’ of migration from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, including poverty, corruption and violence,” the outlet added. 

“The region, known as Central America’s Northern Triangle, has been one of the main sources of migration to the U.S.-Mexico border over the past decade,” it continued. “In reality, the only role close to that of a ‘border czar’ under the Biden administration was held only for a few months by Roberta Jacobson, a longtime diplomat who served as coordinator for the Southwest border until April 2021.”

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While several new outlets have tried to peddle this narrative since Harris became the nominee, it is false. There are videos and screenshots proving it.

In July, after Harris secured the presidential nomination, Axios published a report claiming that Harris “never actually had” the role of “border czar.” However, their own reporting from 2021 called Harris the “border czar.”

Axios was hit with a community note over their claim.

In 2021, CBS News themselves reported that Harris was appointed to lead the Biden administration’s border security agenda.  

A video compiled by MRC Newsbusters showed that countless liberal media outlets referred to Harris as the “border czar” at the beginning of the Biden administration. Now, these same outlets are trying to pretend this never happened.

In a video from 2021, Biden can be seen appointing Harris to handle the illegal immigration crisis. 

“She’s leading the effort, because I think the best thing to do is to put someone who…when he or she speaks, they don’t have to wonder about, ‘is that where the president is?’ When she speaks, she speaks for me, doesn’t have to check with me, she knows what she’s doing and I hope we can move this along,” Biden said, adding that he gave Harris a tough job.