Prior to Vice President Kamala Harris’ sole visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in June 2021 in El Paso, it was reported that federal immigration authorities were directed to clear the streets of migrants in an effort to conceal the true extent of the border crisis. Sources within the Border Patrol revealed that agents were instructed to relocate illegal migrants from holding facilities to create a facade for the vice president, even going as far as grooming unaccompanied minors.
“They rented out a ton of hotels and we spent hours moving out bodies. The kids that remained, we had to braid their hair,” one agent stated to the NYP, and added that they “made jokes about how the building was more secure than the whole border was.”
“She had zero interest in really seeing anything. It was rushed,” added a former official who was present during Harris’ visit.
President Joe Biden selected Harris to lead the administration’s efforts to address the then-emerging border crisis in early 2021, with a specific focus on tackling the underlying causes of irregular migration from Central America. However, shortly after the announcement, her office began to distance Harris from the responsibilities outlined, as reported by CNN. In response to mounting pressure to visit the border, Harris eventually did so in June 2021.
Since Harris assumed the role of addressing the root causes of illegal immigration to the U.S., over seven million migrants have attempted to cross the U.S. southern border, according to the most recent data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The El Paso sector was particularly overwhelmed with migrants during this time, with over 21,500 Border Patrol encounters in that month alone, according to CBP data.
“We sanitized all the aliens out of there to make it look good,” another agent told the NYP of the Harris visit.
Following Biden’s decision to not run for re-election, Harris has solidified her position as the presumptive presidential nominee for her party without the need for a primary vote. During this period, several media sources have tried to minimize her assigned duties regarding the border crisis.
