Vice President Kamala Harris, a 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, responded to a question in an interview with CNN on Thursday about why the Biden-Harris administration waited three and a half years to implement recent asylum restrictions by touting her own research into the root causes of migration and pointing to the Senate border bill that was finally passed several years into the Biden-Harris administration's term.
CNN host and chief political correspondent Dana Bash asked, “Another big issue is immigration. As vice president, you were tasked with addressing the root causes of migration in northern Central America, which is impacting our southern border. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, we've seen record numbers of illegal border crossings. Why did the Biden-Harris Administration wait three and a half years to implement comprehensive asylum restrictions?”
Harris responded: “First of all, the root cause investigation that I undertook as vice president, at the request of the president, has actually produced many benefits, including historic investment by American companies in the region. Since we began that investigation, the number of immigrants coming from that region has actually decreased.”
Harris continued, “But let me just say this: Joe Biden and I, and the administration, have worked with members of Congress on immigration issues that are critical to the American people and our security, border issues, and through a bipartisan effort that included some of the most conservative members of Congress, a bill was developed that we supported, and I support. And Donald Trump heard about this bill that would have helped secure the border, but he didn't think it would be politically useful, and he told his colleagues in Congress not to introduce it. He killed a border security bill that would have put 1,500 more agents on the border. And, quite frankly, the Border Patrol supported this bill because they knew they were working around the clock, and 1,500 more agents would help them. This bill allowed us to seize more fentanyl. Ask any community in America that has been devastated by fentanyl, what effect would this bill have had on the concerns and the pain that they've experienced.”
Bash then asked Harris if she still believes in decriminalizing the border as she did when she ran for president in 2020. “I believe there should be consequences,” Harris said.[s]There are laws to deal with people crossing borders illegally and they must be enforced and penalized accordingly.[s].”
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