Former U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to visit the southern border on Monday, seemingly prompting current Vice President Kamala Harris to say that she would also visit the border on Friday, which would be the first time since she came into office.
Not the Bee noted that after three months since she was given the responsibility to address the border issue, Harris may have "just randomly announced she was going to go to the border a few days after Trump announced his own visit, and it might have been purely coincidental that she's going to beat his visit by a few days."
Correspondingly, the Daily Wire confirmed, citing reports from Forbes and Newsweek, that "mainstream media outlets do appear to agree that Harris's decision to finally pay a visit to the United States' southern border, three months after being placed in charge of the Biden administration's border crisis, was motivated by Trump's decision to travel there himself."
In response to the aforementioned speculations, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that Harris' visit was not intended to deflect criticism from former President Donald Trump, the Los Angeles Times reported.
During her daily briefing on Wednesday, Psaki added, "We made an assessment within our government about when it was an appropriate time for her to go to the border."
The L.A. Times also disclosed some unnamed White House officials who claimed that Harris' visit was not politically motivated, and yet were unable to tell when it was arranged.
In a letter to the Vice President dated June 15, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, said that Harris must see personally the situation at the border.
"I believe it is critical that you meet with local stakeholders and residents, consider their concerns, and use their lived experiences to implement more effective policies," Rep. Cuellar said. "The situation on the border will only worsen, as more migrants are expected to arrive. The Administration needs to take a proactive approach to create a sustainable system of humanitarian aid and relieve everyday Americans of that responsibility."
The number of migrants between October 2020 and May 2021 has more than doubled from the previous year, according to data obtained by the BBC from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agency.
CBP also reported that it intercepted 180,034 migrants in May, the highest monthly number since 2000.
According to USA Today, although Title 42 refuses the bulk of migrants, the Biden administration still allows children as well as some families. Consequently, the administration was strongly condemned for the congestion in border patrols and for keeping children in custody of CBP for over 72 hours.
Unaccompanied children are being housed in emergency influx facilities operated by the Department of Health and Human Services while guardians or family members are being verified. Currently, the HHS has custody of a vast number of children. The average amount of time that youngsters spend in CBP custody has been reduced to 24 hours.
Back when she was still a senator, Harris was one of the signatories to a joint statement condemning the Trump administration's use of Title 42 to deport migrants during a pandemic.
