Exclusive: Republican House leaders from districts along the border with Mexico have called for Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to visit the crisis firsthand.
“I’ve invited her to the border every single year for the last four years, both before and after she was tasked with addressing the border crisis and finding the root causes and solving them, and one of the reasons is because it was clear from day one of the Biden administration that we essentially had a border crisis,” Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“But then in her second year after taking the job from the president, she quickly insinuated that all of this was coming from three countries, or that those three countries were home to people fleeing crime.”
Issa was referring to Harris’ nomination to address the “root causes” of mass migration from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, a move that has been widely criticized by Republicans as the migrant crisis continues to impact cities across the country.
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Rep. Darrell Issa is again calling on Vice President Kamala Harris to visit his district’s border. (Getty Images)
But the former House Oversight Chairman told Fox News Digital that from his experience in his district, the immigration issue is much broader than just those three countries.
“I wanted her to know that even back then there was a very diverse immigrant population, with more and more immigrants coming from all over the world, from Romania, Russia and all over Asia,” Issa said.
Issa said he did not expect Harris to take him up on his offer, citing his experience working with her as a California congressman when he was administrator of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency under Trump.
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This image shows the border wall separating Mexico and the United States in the San Diego area. (Fox News)
“When I was appointed by President Trump, she never met with me as her local senator. [Late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.,] “She’s not been someone who would take the time to talk to senators and representatives across party lines, even from their home states, even on state issues,” Issa said.
of Latest Data Border encounters fell to the lowest monthly number of Biden’s term in June, with just under 84,000 migrants encountered between ports of entry, after the president signed an executive order restricting most asylum requests when the seven-day average of illegal border crossings exceeds 2,500.
But Republicans argue that the figure is still too high, and continue to criticize both Biden and Harris for crimes committed against Americans by undocumented immigrants this year.
“I cover about 100 miles of the Mexican border east of San Diego, and what we’re seeing and what we’re hearing from law enforcement is an increase in border crime,” Issa said.
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Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Trump’s running mate, is scheduled to tour parts of the border on Thursday. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The latest invitation to Senator Harris comes as Senator J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, former President Trump’s vice presidential nominee, is scheduled to tour part of the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona on Thursday.
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“Republicans don’t agree on everything, but we agree that government is already too big and taxes are already too high. We believe that laws must be enforced, criminals punished and our borders secured,” Issa said. “It’s an eyesore that Harris isn’t here. John Darby was expected to be here because supporting national defense, including border security, is a core tenet of our party.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Harris’ campaign for comment but had not heard back by press time.
