Where Has Kamala Harris Been For Seven Months?
Daily Caller ^ | January 16, 2023 8:07 PM ET | DIANA GLEBOVA, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT
Posted on 1/17/2023, 10:43:45 AM by
Vice President Kamala Harris has apparently disappeared from leading any public events on migration — dodging one of the responsibilities bestowed upon her by the president — for over seven months, a Daily Caller analysis found.
The last time Harris led an event on migration was on June 7, 2022, when she announced nearly $2 billion in additional funding to address the “root causes” of migration. She has not led a migration event since and did not accompany President Joe Biden on his first trip to the border, according to a Daily Caller analysis of White House public statements.
In December, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she didn’t have any updates on what Harris has been doing on migration. Harris’ office did not respond to an inquiry from the Daily Caller posing the question, “has she done anything on migration” since June?
Instead of Harris tackling illegal migration issues, White House public statements show her attention visibly shifted to abortion, diplomacy and diversity events in the second half of 2022.
A large part of Harris’ summer was spent pushing abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in May and speaking to state leaders across the country about reproductive rights. Since her last migration related event, Harris had at least 28 meetings with various leaders about reproductive rights, including with Latina state legislators and disability rights leaders.
Harris’ abortion efforts were accompanied by meetings with foreign leaders. In the last seven months, she met with the presidents of Mexico, France, South Korea, South Africa and Moldova; traveled to South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and Japan; spoke with leaders of the Pacific Islands, Nigeria, and the Caribbean, the president of Guyana, and the prime ministers of Canada, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Poland, Jamaica and Lithuania. She also participated in the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.
She also participated in at least 10 events for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), held events as the chair of the National Space Council, and advertised the administration’s legislative agenda — like the Inflation Reduction Act — across the country. Other Harris events include those on climate, LGBT rights, and a flurry of Democratic campaigning before the midterms.
Biden appointed Harris to lead the migration efforts of the administration in March of 2021, saying, “it’s not her full responsibility and job, but she’s leading the effort.”
“I’ve asked her, the VP, today — because she’s the most qualified person to do it — to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that help — are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border,” Biden said at the time.
The Biden administration has experienced record numbers of illegal immigrant encounters, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recording 250,000 encounters in December — the highest in history. Several CBP agents have committed suicide amid the record numbers, and the U.S. is undergoing a fentanyl epidemic due to the drug being smuggled across the border.
On Jan. 5, before Biden’s trip to the border, the president said he was “proud” of Harris for securing $3.2 billion in private sector funding for Central America. Harris did not participate in the remarks on the administration’s border strategy, and just jumped in to fill in for Biden’s gaffes.
