Harris avoids controversy, pushes Biden immigration agenda during ‘safe’ trip to El Paso | WDVM25 & DCW50

EL PASO, Texas (border report) – Vice President Harris’ visit to El Paso on Friday was largely symbolic and likely politicized, yet it gave her an opportunity to get the message across that the Biden administration is making progress in managing migration flows.

“The President and I are absolutely committed to our immigration system being orderly and humane, and I believe we are making progress in that regard,” Harris said at a press conference at El Paso Airport.

Harris, whom President Joe Biden called his immigration point of contact, had received criticism from Republicans for failing to visit the border as illegal migration rose to levels not seen in 20 years. It received more criticism from Republicans on Friday for visiting “the wrong part of the border” as concern statistics show more migrants are coming to South Texas, not Far West Texas.

Protesters lined the roadside as Harris toured the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s central processing center in northeast El Paso. One was carrying a sign that read “You took the wrong turn, this is not Europe”. That was a reference to a comment on national television that she had “never been to Europe” when asked why she hadn’t gone to the US-Mexico border.

When Vice President Kamala Harris arrives in El Paso, Texas on Friday, June 25, 2021, to tour the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Central Processing Center, people gather outside the facility. (AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin)

Some border experts said politics definitely played a role in their choice of El Paso over South Texas.

“It’s interesting that she didn’t go to South Texas, which is more a hot place to immigrate than El Paso. It affirms that this is a political approach to the crisis because it is not the red focus but the yellow spot, so to speak, ”said Tony Payan, director of the Center for the United States and Mexico at Baker Institute for Public Policy Rice University and Professor at Juarez Autonomous University.

Had she gone to South Texas now, particularly with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who had vowed to build a border wall, and former President Donald Trump, who was due to be there next week, Harris “could have fallen into a trap,” said Payan.

He and other experts told Border Report and KTSM that the visit is unlikely to change much in terms of the surge in migrants. However, local advocates who met with the vice president at El Paso International Airport said it could mark a turning point in Americans’ perception of the border.

“We spoke of the need to change the basic narrative of the border. We must reject the false narrative that promotes border militarization and fear of migrants, ”said Fernando Garcia, Executive Director of the Border Network for Human Rights. “We have to build on the narrative that this is the new Ellis Island. […] The Vice President expressed his support for this idea and said that we need to build welcome centers instead of prisons. “

Accidental or voluntary, Harris’ walk around the border takes some of the thunder from Trump’s planned visit to South Texas.

“That was very smart. I think that was a decision made by Biden. “Don’t get into controversy. Don’t hire them. It’s still the limit. It’s still Texas, ”Payan said. “It won’t solve problems overnight. That’s not what it’s meant for. But it sends a message that they are getting a grip on the issue, that they are making up for early mistakes, and that they see immigration as important. “

He added that Biden will seek to build on the billion dollar infrastructure compromise with the Republicans by moving to an immigration compromise next.

Margarita Arvizu, another El Paso activist, said many border residents live in households with mixed immigration status and haven’t forgotten Biden’s promise to legalize undocumented law-abiding immigrants with deep family and professional roots in the United States.

“I am a US citizen, I have legal residents, and I have undocumented relatives. They all live with the uncertainty that one day a loved one will be able to go to work and not come back because they encountered immigration authorities (agents), ”she said. “Too many people who are established members of this society are in limbo and that needs to be fixed.”

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