Vice President Kamala Harris, as her campaign for the White House heats up, is quickly finding herself in a position of needing to address her exact role with immigration, including whether she was the Biden administration's designated "border czar."
The confusion began early in President Joe Biden's administration in 2021, when he assigned Harris to help with part of the migration issue, Axios reported.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's campaign and Republicans tagged her as the "border czar" and demanded answers about her role in the increased numbers of immigrants entering the U.S. since Biden took office.
"Harris was appointed 'border czar' in March of 2021, and since that time, millions and millions of illegal aliens have invaded our country and countless Americans have been killed by migrant crime because of her willful demolition of American borders and laws," Trump told reporters Tuesday.
House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., also introduced a resolution to condemn the administration and the "border czar" for failing to secure the border.
Harris' supporters pointed out that she never was officially named a "czar" but had been tagged to play a role in diplomacy with Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, seen as central to the immigration crisis.
Harris' main role on immigration has been to promote democracy and development through diplomacy in Central America, reported CBS News, which noted that immigration policy and enforcement of the U.S.-Mexico border falls under the responsibility of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and his office.
"She assumed the role that Vice President Biden had during the Obama administration, which is diplomacy with Central America," according to former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, who also told Fox News on Tuesday that Harris "is not the border czar."
A White House official, responding to Axios, said Harris is continuing to "lead the effort to address the root causes of migration," including "generating more than $5.2 billion in investments into the [Central America] region."
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates, in a separate statement, added that the Biden administration's executive actions "have brought unauthorized crossings to a lower level than when Trump left office. President Biden and Vice President Harris are leading on border security, while congressional Republicans sabotage it."
Polls show that most Americans say there should be less immigration, and while Republicans are blaming the Biden administration, the president has blamed Republicans, saying they killed a bipartisan border deal.
The administration has also touted declining border numbers after Biden's recent executive action.
Meanwhile, immigration advocates told Axios they believe Harris is "experienced and knowledgeable" on immigration, noting her work while in the Senate on immigration legislation, including on behalf of "dreamers."
"She, herself, knows all this stuff," Kerri Talbot, the director of Immigration Hub, commented to Axios.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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