In an extensive report outlining internal disagreements within Team Biden regarding the persistent border crisis, a former senior Biden administration official commented that Vice President Kamala Harris’ endeavors concerning immigration and border matters were deemed “ineffective, at best,” adding that Harris did not believe that most of the challenges regarding border issues and policies were her responsibility, according to a new report.
According to Axios, Harris and her team clearly articulated that their primary focus was directed solely towards addressing the root causes and fundamental factors fueling immigration from nations like Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras—commonly known as the Northern Triangle.
At the outset of his presidency, President Joe Biden assigned Harris the responsibility of addressing a border crisis that had already spiraled into chaos. Nevertheless, Republicans point fingers at him for the situation, attributing it to his reversal of the highly effective immigration enforcement policies put in place by former President Donald Trump.
“She’s been, at best, ineffective and, at worst, sporadically engaged, not seeing it as her responsibility. It’s an opportunity for her, and she didn’t fill the breach,” a former Biden administration official told the outlet.
Fox News added: “Axios also highlighted turmoil within the Biden administration’s handling of the border crisis. The Department of Homeland Security imposed a 100-day pause on deportations on Biden’s first day in office, and the outlet reported that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas opposed the pause at the time. Harris also clashed with former Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice, according to Axios, but both denied the reporting.”
“Rice appeared to others to take pride in being more informed on the border than Harris,” Axios reported. “Some Harris aides found Rice to be disrespectful toward the vice president and dismissively referred to the former UN ambassador as just a ‘staffer.’”
Axios buries the lead: Susan Rice and Kamala Harris clash inside White House.https://t.co/oI6pB4n7rw
— Shadygrooove (@shadygrooove) February 12, 2024
In addition, Rice called Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra a “bi**h a*s” over “what was seen as his reluctance to find more space in child migrant shelters,” Axios noted further.
The report also claimed that Biden has, at times, lost his temper with staffers over the border, though clearly, he has the authority to re-implement Trump’s policies or devise some of his own to stem the flow of humanity across the border, critics have argued.
