Kamala Harris Has No Plans Yet to Visit U.S.-Mexico Border
Vice President Kamala Harris will not be visiting the U.S.-Mexico border anytime soon, even after being tapped to handle the border crisis.
Kamala Harris said she would be leading efforts to address the migrant influx at the U.S.-Mexico border. But spokeswoman Symone Sanders said the vice president has no immediate plans to visit the border region "in the near future," according to an Associated Press report.
Harris earlier said that she and President Joe Biden would visit the southern border "at some point." She noted that the administration needs to solve the root problem of the migrant crisis and deal with what causes migrants to leave their countries to come to the U.S.
"At some point, absolutely we will go down to the border and I've been down to the border and our secretary of the Homeland Security Alex Mayorkas has been down there twice," Harris said in a CBS News report.
Biden has tapped Kamala Harris to lead diplomatic efforts to address the rising number of migrants coming to the U.S.
Sanders emphasized that the vice president's role is more diplomatic in nature. Sanders added that the public could expect Harris to be speaking with leaders from the region soon.
The Biden administration supports a proposal of providing $7 billion in assistance to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, hoping to address the poverty and violence that leads migrants to flee to the U.S.
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Kamala Harris' Role
By delegating the role to Kamala Harris, Biden seeks to replicate a dynamic played out when he served as vice president of former president Barack Obama.
"When she speaks, she speaks for me," Biden noted in a Yahoo News report.
Apart from overseeing diplomatic efforts to deal with issues causing a spike in migration, Kamala Harris will also be pressing the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to reinforce their own borders.
She was also assigned to develop and impose a long-term strategy to address the root causes of migration from the said countries.
According to a Fox News report, Biden said the vice president has agreed to lead diplomatic efforts and work with those nations to accept returning migrants and enhance migrant enforcement.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported more than 100,000 migrants apprehensions at the southern border in February alone.
The U.S. government plans to go after smuggling and trafficking organizations in the next 90 days. A senior Biden official said smugglers were manipulating migrants to come to the U.S.
The official projected a continuing surge of migrants on the way in "spring caravans," Reuters reported. U.S. and Mexican officials are also discussing ways to enhance U.S.-Mexico border enforcement and ensure that Central American governments have the resources to help secure the southern border.
READ MORE: Biden Downplays Number of Migrant Crossings in First Press Conference
WATCH: President Biden Taps Vice President Kamala Harris to Lead Border Efforts - From Reuters