Vice President Kamala Harris is finally coming to the border. After increasing attacks from Republicans and a growing number of Democrats regarding her apparent inattention to our frontier with Mexico, Harris announced that she would make an appearance Friday in El Paso.
We hope her visit will be more than what is expected from Gov. Greg Abbott and former President Donald Trump when they come to the Rio Grande Valley next Wednesday.
Trump, whose border policy was one of deterrence, made several visits to the border during his presidential term, and they generally weren’t very constructive. He essentially met with Border Patrol and Homeland Security officials and made a public statement. His policy basically sought to make conditions here so bad that foreign nationals would decide not to come here. In so doing, however, those conditions were made unacceptably harsh for the people who did come.
Harris should meet with those who are caring for the immigrants and processing their petitions to stay in this country — and with the migrants themselves. She and her staff should establish connections to continue working together and sharing information long after she’s gone.
The Biden administration repeatedly has said that Harris’ focus is on reducing the flow of immigrants to the United States. She has been charged with addressing the root causes of immigration to our country, and earlier this month she made a visit to Central America, where most current immigrants originate, and Mexico, through which they travel to get here.
However, we can’t simply ignore the plight of the thousands of people who are already here. Many of them — including unaccompanied children — continue to languish in overcrowded detention centers where some have reported insufficient food and water, abuse by their proctors and unsanitary conditions.
If Biden and Harris want to know the root causes of immigration to our country, we can help: They’re coming because conditions are better here than in their home countries. Even the difficulties they encounter at our detention centers are considered temporary, and the migrants hold on to hope that eventually they will be able to build new lives in the Land of the Free.
In her trip to Central America, Harris sought assurances from officials there that people seeking asylum in the United States can begin the petitioning process in their home countries. It’s questionable, however, if people who are trying to escape those very governments will be inclined to stay there even as they declare their conditions are intolerable, or if U.S. embassies and consulates are able to handle a rush of thousands of people seeking asylum and refuge.
And how safe will those facilities, and the people working in them, be if government officials, criminal gangs and others seek to take action against those who are trying to leave?
Harris’ visit to the border at least indicates that we’ve got her attention. Now she needs to follow up by building a staff to work with border officials and representatives, both here and in Washington, to constantly monitor the conditions at the border and determine the best ways to improve them.
