Kamala Harris' border record under scrutiny as she eyes Democratic nomination

WASHINGTON (TND) — With Vice President Kamala Harris now the likely Democratic nominee, Republicans are wasting no time digging into her record on the Southern border.

It's an issue President Joe Biden tapped her to tackle early on in his administration and one of her biggest perceived political weak points.

During her time as vice president, Harris has faced intense criticism for appearing to do little publicly on the issue. She dodged questions from NBC's Lester Holt when he pointed out, at the time of the interview, that she had not yet visited the border.

"You haven’t been to the border," said Holt.

And I haven't been to Europe," Harris responded. "I don’t understand the point that you’re making."

Following that interview, Harris made a trip to El Paso, Texas.

Harris also faced backlash for these comments made during her trip to Guatemala, “For the folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border, do not come.”

When Biden handed this responsibility to Harris, Democrats still saw the border as just one of many issues facing the country. The number of illegal crossings had yet to reach the crisis levels they eventually would.

In 2020, the year before Biden took office, there were less than half a million encounters with migrants trying to cross the southern border illegally. Biden’s first year in office saw a dramatic spike in those numbers. The latest data shows migrant encounters are now five times what they were at the start of the Biden-Harris administration.

Now there’s a debate over what exactly Harris’ role was and pushback is emerging over her being dubbed Biden’s “border czar,” a title many news outlets used.

You already gotta counter the misinformation. People calling her the border czar, she wasn’t the border czar. She did diplomacy in Central America," said Symone Sanders, a former chief spokesperson for VP Harris.

On Thursday, half a dozen House Democrats joined Republicans to pass a resolution criticizing Harris’ handling of the Southern border.