Fifty-six House Republicans are urging President Joe Biden Thursday to remove Vice President Kamala Harris from her role in handling the border crisis.
Republican Wisconsin Rep. Glenn Grothman is leading the charge, noted on Twitter that Harris has yet to visit the border. Harris was tapped by Biden to lead the administration’s response to the border crisis in March, and has faced bipartisan criticism for avoiding the border.
The administration in turn has declared that her job is solely to focus on the “root causes of migration.” Harris, meanwhile, has repeatedly dodged questions about visiting the border.
The Republicans, which include Reps. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, Louie Gohmert of Texas and Jody Hice of Georgia, express “serious concerns regarding” Harris’s “appointment as” the administration’s leader in solving the crisis, according to the letter.
The @VP STILL hasn’t visited the border. You can’t truly know the situation until you speak with people on the ground. I and 55 of my colleagues sent this letter to @POTUS demanding her removal from this position because 180k encounters, a 21-year high, is unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/PJE0RpgTaV
— Rep. Glenn Grothman (@RepGrothman) June 17, 2021
“Despite being in the midst of a border crisis this country has not seen in two decades, Vice President Harris has not yet shown adequate interest in observing this crisis first-hand,” the lawmakers wrote. “In the 85 days since the Vice President has been tasked with solving this crisis, she has yet to visit the border and meet with Border Patrol agents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, and local law enforcement officials.”
The lawmakers said it’s “important” for Harris to have these meetings and declared it “an insult” to the “hardworking” officials tasked with protecting the border. The slew of Republicans also addressed the administration’s now-common “root causes of migration” talking point and said Harris has “made excuses about her role in solving the crisis.”
“President Harris wrongly presumes that ‘root causes’ of migration can only stem from a migrant’s country of origin,” the letter said. “Even if we assume that ‘root causes’ only stem from a migrant’s country of origin, the exclusive focus on Central American countries ignores the fact that we see many migrants attempting to illegally cross our southern border from countries all over the world.”
Ultimately, the Republican lawmakers scrutinized Biden’s past declaration that he could “think of nobody … better qualified to do this” job.
“We disagree,” the lawmakers wrote. “This country cannot afford another minute of inaction from Vice President Harris.”
