WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a Republican-led resolution condemning the president and Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, for the administration’s immigration policies.
Republicans announced they would push the resolution just hours after President Joe Biden. suspended his re-election campaign and supported Harris in her bid to become the fresh Democratic candidate to face former President Donald Trump in November.
The resolution, HR1371was presented on Wednesday. It passed 220-196, just before the House of Representatives went into its six-week recess.
Six Democrats voted with the Republicans: Representatives Yadira D. Caraveo of Colorado, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, Mary Peltola of Alaska and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington.
Immigration policy at the US-Mexico border remains unchanged a central election campaign issue in the presidential election and a major concern of voters.
Ahead of the vote, the White House released a fact sheet on Thursday noting that the number of encounters at the southern border had fallen by more than half, or 55 percent, over the past seven weeks.
“While the President’s actions have produced significant results, our nation’s immigration system requires action by Congress to provide the necessary resources and additional authority,” the White House said.
Label “Grenzzar”
Since Harris won the necessary democratic delegates Although she is expected to become the party’s nominee on Monday night, Republicans have criticized her for the Biden administration’s immigration policies and called her “border czar,” falsely claiming that it is an official title given to her by the White House. That title has also been used in some media reports.
In March 2021, Biden tasked Harris with addressing the root causes of migration to stem the influx of undocumented migrants at the southern border.
Harris was never given the title of “border czar,” but that title was officially given to Roberta Jacobson, the former U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Jacobson’s role was created for a tiny term – Biden’s first 100 days in office – and ended in April 2021.
In addition, border security between the United States and Mexico is under the control of the Department of Homeland Security. The Republicans in February DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was indicted because of political differences. The Senate rejected the articles impeachment in April.
Republicans said Harris and the administration are one and the same. “She is responsible for his entire failed border policy,” said Mark Green of Tennessee, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, during debate Thursday.
Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi congressman and the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, called the resolution “frivolous” and “nothing more than a campaign press release.”
“This resolution is only before this body because Vice President Kamala Harris will be the Democratic nominee for president,” Thompson said. “This resolution is incredibly petty.”
Republicans such as Rep. Rudy Yakym of Indiana and Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida again called Harris a “border czar” and blamed her for the high number of clashes at the southern border.
Gimenez also criticized Harris for not visiting the southern border frequently. She did travel to the border city of El Paso, Texas, once in June 2021, but only to address the root causes of migration that are leading to border problems.
The task was narrower, say the Democrats
Democrats argued that Harris had been assigned a diplomatic rather than border protection role.
The chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, said Harris has never been a “borderline czar.”
“Their narrow mandate was to develop agreements that could help direct government and private investment to the countries that send migrants to the United States so that those countries could help improve conditions in those countries,” she said.
The White House in March said Harris had secured about $5 billion in private sector commitments to promote economic opportunities in the region and reduce violence in northern Central America.
The chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Democratic Rep. Nanette Barragán of California, said border security is Mayorkas’ responsibility and that Harris was never entrusted with leading national immigration policy.
“Now they have a desperate intention to blame Vice President Harris for the border,” she said of House Republicans.
