Texas Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar called El Paso “the new Ellis Island” on Friday morning as she introduced Vice President Kamala Harris to reporters during her visit to the border.
“Welcome to El Paso. Welcome to my community, to the new Ellis Island, to the capital of the border,” Escobar said.
“I am standing before you with a heart full of gratitude. Madam Vice President, thank you for being here,” she added in her greeting to reporters at El Paso International Airport.
Illegal border crossings have reached a 21 year high, but Democrat @RepEscobar just called the southern border our “New Ellis Island.”
Does @VP Kamala Harris agree? pic.twitter.com/TpyF3hk9DM
— Chad Gilmartin (@ChadGilmartinCA) June 25, 2021
The reference to Ellis Island was to the New York island known as the primary stopping point for legal immigrants entering the United States from 1892 to 1954.
“Coming to the border at the advice, and actually at the invitation of the congresswoman, it’s about looking at the effects of what we have seen happening in Central America,” Harris said, according to Bloomberg.
“It was always the plan to come here,” the vice president added.
The visit by Harris comes more than 90 days after she was appointed by President Joe Biden to lead the nation’s response to the immigration surge at the nation’s southern border.
“The vice president’s trip to Guatemala and Mexico earlier this year was about the root causes, and this border visit is about the effects,” Harris spokesperson Symone Sanders told reporters on Thursday, according to Reuters.
“Both trips will inform the administration’s root causes strategy,” she added.
The report of the vice president’s trip comes as former President Donald Trump said he would join Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to visit the border on June 30.
“After months of ignoring the crisis at the Southern Border, it is great that we got Kamala Harris to finally go and see the tremendous destruction and death that they’ve created — a direct result of Biden ending my very tough but fair Border policies,” Trump said in a statement on Wednesday.
TRUMP: “After months of ignoring the crisis at the Southern Border, it is great that we got Kamala Harris to finally go and see the tremendous destruction and death that they’ve created.” pic.twitter.com/6xrpbAj40T
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 23, 2021
“Harris and Biden were given the strongest Border in American history. And now, it is by far the worst in American history,” he added.
“If Governor Abbott and I weren’t going there next week, she would have never gone!”
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz blasted Biden and Harris on June 18 during an interview, claiming they “are quite simply not doing their jobs.”
“Fox & Friends” host Steve Doocy told Cruz, “States all across the country are sending people to your state because it’s a mess.”
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are quite simply not doing their jobs. They’re refusing to enforce the law and secure the border. pic.twitter.com/8INqXgcjfb
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 18, 2021
“It is, and it is a complete and total abdication by the federal government,” Cruz answered. “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are quite simply not doing their job. They’re refusing to enforce the law.”
“And they’ve created an unmitigated crisis at the border.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
