Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas does not believe a question about why neither President Joe Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris has visited the U.S.-Mexico border is worth answering.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) asked Mayorkas on Thursday why they have not visited the border.
During his testimony to the House Homeland Security Committee, he responded, “I consider that question to be quite unfair.”
Mayorkas went on to claim it is his job to address the issues at the border, “It’s my responsibility to manage the border.”
In March, Biden tapped Harris to lead efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries to address the flow of migrants to the border.
During an interview with Univision earlier this month, Harris was asked when she is going to the border, as IJR reported.
“I’ve said I’m going to the border, and also, if we are going to deal with the problems at the border, we have to deal with the problems that cause people to go to the border, to flee to the border. And that is the root causes,” Harris said.
She continued, “So my first trip, as Vice President of the United States, was to go in terms of a foreign trip to Guatemala to be on the ground there to address and to be informed of the root causes. Why are the people of Guatemala leaving?”
When asked for a specific date of when she would visit the border, Harris replied, “I will keep you posted.”
White House officials were reportedly left “perplexed” by a response Harris gave to a question about visiting the border and were worried it would overshadow her trip to Mexico and Guatemala, as IJR reported.
When Lester Holt reminded Harris she had not been to the border, she told him, “I haven’t been to Europe. And I mean, I don’t – I don’t understand the point that you’re making. I’m not discounting the importance of the border. Listen, I care about what’s happening at the border.”
