Immigration advocates hopeful for chance to share perspective with VP Harris during El Paso visit
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AUSTIN (Nexstar) – When Vice President Kamala Harris lands in El Paso, Texas on Friday, she will grab the attention of a nation grappling with ways to secure the American border with Mexico.
Harris, who plans to bring El Paso Congressman Veronica Escobar and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, both Democrats, was appointed by President Joe Biden nearly 100 days ago to lead his administration’s border response.
“What happens at the border is important and directly related to what is happening in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, it is directly related to the work to combat the root causes of migration,” said Harris’ senior advisor and chief spokesman Symone Sandersers on the phone with reporters Thursday night. “There is poverty, corruption, violence and a climate crisis.”
Immigration advocates are looking for an opportunity to speak with Harris about how they are coping with the surge in immigrant immigration to the United States.
“The time has come,” said Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, before her visit.
“We welcome this opportunity because the expectations are high,” said Garcia. “I hope she will come to hear these issues from frontier communities and families, and I hope she will come to speak and share with members of our community.”
White House officials confirmed that Harris will meet with lawyers from religious nongovernmental organizations and providers of housing and legal services. She will also tour a customs and border protection facility called the El Paso Central Processing Center, where she visits migrants for a complete solution and operational briefing.
The timing of their visit raised eyebrows as it is days before Governor Greg Abbott and former President Donald Trump travel to the Rio Grande Valley on their own border tour.
Abbott has gone on the offensive, claiming the Biden administration’s “open border” policy encourages immigrants to enter the United States illegally and allows cartels to bring people and drugs into the state easily.
Following the announcement of a government-funded border wall project last week, the governor’s office announced more than $ 459,000 in donations and $ 250 million in entry fees from the state prison system to hire project developers and begin construction.
US Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the vice president’s visit missed the mark and misplaced priorities, highlighting greater challenges elsewhere along the border.
“By ignoring the Rio Grande Valley, the busiest border patrol sector along the border between the United States, Texas and Mexico, the Vice President is shifting focus from the most serious problems of the crisis that she has been unable to resolve or provide constructive ideas,” Cornyn said Week in a speech.
Sanders said the government is not looking to conservative critics or the former president. The White House defended the timing of Harris’ visit. That was announced a week before Trump and Abbott’s trip.
“We have made an assessment within our administration as to when it was time for them to go to the border,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said this week.
Sanders said El Paso, nicknamed “The Sun City” is “truly representative of what is happening on the border from California to Texas and beyond.”
Garcia hopes the Biden government’s approach to immigration will change public perception and reinforce action before the situation deteriorates.
“I hope they will, they will understand that we need to start changing the way we treat border people and families who come over.”
The Nexstar station KTSM 9 contributed to this report.
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