An Axios reporter accused Republicans of fabricating Kamala Harris' "Border Czar" title three years after reporting President Joe Biden was "putting Vice President Harris in charge of addressing the migrant surge at the U.S.-Mexico border," reports Mediaite.
Stef Kight, in an article published Wednesday titled, "Harris border confusion haunts her new campaign," writes that "the Trump campaign and Republicans have tagged Harris repeatedly with the "border czar" title — which she never actually had."
Kight explains that when Biden tapped Harris to "lead the administration's coordination with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, which were key sources of migration to the border," the announcement led "to near-immediate confusion in the media and in the White House over how involved Harris would be, with Republicans and some news outlets, including Axios, giving Harris the unofficial moniker of "border czar."
Biden in 2021 pegged Harris to "lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that help — are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border."
The Vice President "has agreed — among the multiple other things that I have her leading — and I appreciate it — agreed to lead our diplomatic effort and work with those nations to accept the returnees and enhance migration enforcement at their borders — at their borders," he added.
An Axios article written by Kight in 2021 stated: "President Biden said during the transition, whatever the most urgent need, he would turn to the vice president," Kight reported an administration official as saying at the time. "And today he is turning to the vice president."