Dear Editor,
There are two major political attacks on Kamala Harris from her political opponents: Aa failed “border czar” and an “extreme liberal.” There are a lot of misconceptions and media misrepresentations on the role and responsibility of Harris on the former topic – the border security. I aim to iron out the facts on this topic here.
At the outset, it is better to be clear that the immigration and border security is the responsibility of the Homeland Security. But when Biden-Harris started their term, President Biden appointed Kamala Harris in March 2021 to study and tackle the “root causes” of migration from the Northern Triangle that include El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala and to persuade and push their leaders, along with Mexico’s, to enforce immigration laws in their country.
Unfortunately, this was a bad timing as thousands of unaccompanied children from Central America started crossing the border within two months of Biden-Harris administration taking office. At the end of March 2021, there were eighteen thousand children in U.S. custody waiting for sponsors to provide housing in U.S. It was rather a time of “emergency crisis” than “root cause” analysis.
To put it plain, Harris was set up for failure at that moment. To make things worse, Harris was assigned to deal with leaders of the Northern Triangle where the Honduran President was under investigation (he is now in U.S. prison serving a forty-five-year sentence for drug trafficking), an authoritarian leader and a Trump ally of El Salvador leader, and a corrupt government system in Guatemala.
Harris’s inference in studying the “root causes” of Northen Triangle migration were never-ending corruption, injustice, poverty, and unemployment in those countries. Because of her effort and engagement, the Biden-Harris administration built credibility with business leaders and raised five billion dollars from private sector investors to invest in Central America. Her approach was a cautious long term, yet limited approach to a humanitarian crisis. The results of her efforts will not be tangible immediately but may take the next decade or two. In addition, she was tasked to deal with a multi-generational multi-dimensional cultural and economic crisis, where the people in Central America have been migrating to U.S for decades.
The immigration and border crisis were not a “newborn baby” of Biden-Harris Administration but has been a problem for decades in the past. In short, blaming Harris for all the illegal immigration and border crossing is baseless, unfair, and highly politically motivated.
It is also a time to remember that this county is built on immigrants. There are only 2.9% of Native Americans in U.S. population as of 2021. It is also appropriate to remember that Trump calling illegal immigrants “rapist and criminals” forgets his own past personal behaviors and business practices.
Sincerely,
Jimmy George
Augusta, Ga.
