Kamala Harris criticised for failing to visit US border on Latin America trip

Vice President Kamala Harris sought to assure poor and threatened populations of Latin America on Tuesday that the United States has “the capacity to give people a sense of hope” in the region so they can make better lives without fleeing to the U.S. border. Harris closed her first foreign trip as vice president unapologetic for her decision not to visit the U.S.-Mexico border as part of her mission to address migration to the United States. “If you want to address the needs of a people, you must meet those people, you must spend time with those people, because the only way you can actually fix the problem is to understand the problem,” she told a news conference before the flight to Washington. Earlier she brushed off questions about her decision not to go to the border as part of her work to address the spike in migration, saying that while it was “legitimate” to be concerned about the situation there, it wouldn’t be addressed with a simple visit. “It must be priority for us to understand why people leave,” she told the news conference. “I cannot say it enough. Most people don’t want to leave home.” Harris engaged in two days of diplomacy in Guatemala and Mexico as part of the Biden administration’s effort to stem the flow of people into the U.S. She met with Guatemala’s and Mexico’s presidents to discuss economic investments and increased enforcement against trafficking, smuggling and corruption. The increase in migration at the border has become one of the major challenges confronting Biden in the early months of his first term, with Republicans seizing on an issue they see as politically advantageous. Polls suggest Americans are less favourable toward Biden’s approach to immigration than they are toward his policies on the economy and the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve tried to make Harris the face of that immigration policy, charging she and Biden are ignoring the issue because both have yet to visit the southern border. Harris told reporters she was focused on “tangible” results “as opposed to grand gestures.” Harris and her aides have sought to make clear that her mission was narrowly focused on finding diplomatic solutions to the problem at the border.