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Vice President Kamala Harris’ office has received at least a dozen letters, from Texas Governor Greg Abbott to Republican representatives, demanding explanations about the border crisis and she has yet to respond to any of the letters.
Harris, known as the “border czar,” still has no plans to travel to the border crisis zone and instead said her approach to helping solve the problem has been to “bring together” cabinet secretaries.
The vice president was named President Biden’s crisis manager last month, but has yet to hold a press conference on her duties after 27 days in office.
In the latest missive to the Democratic administration, the Texas governor called for the federal government to take “immediate action” against Mexican drug cartels by designating them as foreign terrorist organizations.
“They smuggle narcotics and weapons into the United States to finance their illegal enterprises,” the Republican governor wrote.
“They force women and children into sex and human trafficking, enriching themselves on the misery and enslavement of immigrants. They murder innocent people, including women and children,” he added.
Abbott asserted that “it is time” for the feds to react appropriately and label Mexican criminal groups like Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel as foreign terrorist groups under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
“The sooner they do so, the sooner the United States will be able to secure the border and protect Americans from these deadly threats,” the letter continued.
The governor says he has been ignored by the Biden-Harris administration to whom he has sent at least three letters, while the vice president claims her role is reduced to diplomatic actions.
“When we look at my approach, which is a diplomatic approach in the Northern Triangle, it’s about bringing together, as I did now, I think, a couple of weeks ago, members of the Cabinet. And the progress is that Commerce, for example, is going to host a virtual trade mission,” Harris told reporters in explaining why she has not gone to the border.
Following her appointment to lead the administration’s response to the surge of migrants, the vice president emphasized that she would only address the “root causes” of migration and not border enforcement.
Harris has spoken by phone with the presidents of Guatemala and Mexico, but has not visited the border or Central America, nor has she spoken with the leaders of El Salvador and Honduras.
Last week she said she intends to travel to Guatemala and Mexico, but no date has been announced.
Republicans ask for actions to deal with the border crisis
This Monday, April 19, the top Republicans on three House committees asked Harris for a meeting to discuss immigration. In the missive, they stated that “it is unclear what action has been directed or is planned to be initiated to respond to the crisis that continues to worsen every day.”
“It appears that the Biden-Harris administration refuses to take meaningful action to stop the influx of illegal aliens at the border and instead is releasing thousands into the interior,” wrote Representatives Jim Jordan (R-Ohio ), John Katko (R-NY), and James Comer (R-Ky.) in their letter to Harris on Monday.
“The total number of encounters at the southern border this fiscal year already exceeds half a million, and we have not even entered the months when the number of crossings is historically the highest,” they said in the letter.
Sabrina Martín Rondon is a Venezuelan journalist. Her source is politics and economics. She is a specialist in corporate communications and is committed to the task of dismantling the supposed benefits of socialism // Sabrina Martín Rondon es periodista venezolana. Su fuente es la política y economía. Es especialista en comunicaciones corporativas y se ha comprometido con la tarea de desmontar las supuestas bondades del socialismo