Kamala Harris Purposely Avoiding a Visit to U.S.-Mexico Border, Border Patrol Union Chief Says
Vice President Kamala Harris is avoiding a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border despite being named the White House's point person on immigration issues at the southern border, according to the head of the U.S. Border Patrol agents' union.
"If she goes to the U.S. border, people are going to expect her to fix the problem, so she avoids it," Brandon Judd said on "Fox News Live."
Judd noted that it was "disgusting" as it showed putting politics first before what's best for the country. The union chief noted that visiting the southern border personally is what the country's president and the vice president are supposed to do, Washington Examiner reported.
Judd added that the Biden administration's "catch and release" system has not been working. The said system freed migrants into the U.S. after initially being detained in the border region.
"As long as we continue to release people into the United States after they violate our laws, with no consequences, people are going to continue to come," Judd noted.
Judd, who represents over 18,000 members of the National Border Patrol Council, said they want to accept people in the country, but they want to do it legally. He then criticized the right-wing and left-wing politicians, who are trying to politicize the issues.
During a GOP press briefing on Wednesday, Republicans took aim at Kamala Harris with a mock missing persons milk carton notice as they lamented she has yet to visit the southern border.
House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, who brought along the milk carton prop that read 'Missing at the border' with a Harris' White House portrait image, said it was a national disgrace.
Scalise said that President Joe Biden puts Kamala Harris in charge, and the vice president refuses to go down to not "be associated with this disgraceful policy."
Kamala Harris announced on Wednesday that she will be visiting Guatemala and Mexico but will not go to the U.S.-Mexico border to address the mass migration.
The vice president said she had been asked to address the root causes of illegal migration and that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is the one in charge of the border crisis, according to a Daily Mail report.
Meanwhile, reports circulated that Biden is now considering restarting the border wall construction, which he postponed earlier.
READ NEXT: Republican Senator Says Border Crisis Could Be Solved if Trump Immigration Policies Reinstated
Border Crisis and Smugglers
Many migrants are paying illegal smugglers to bring them to the United States. Juan Macias, a 35-year-old Honduran migrant, paid $7,000 in March to a smuggling network, AFP News reported. Macias said he dealt with eight different traffickers during the journey.
The Biden administration has warned undocumented migrants not to come as they might fall victim to crime and human smugglers.
Around 172,000 undocumented migrants were detained crossing the border with Mexico in March, a 71 percent increase in just a month. It also marks the highest number of migrants crossing in 15 years, Customs and Border Protection said.
Biden has vowed to increase the refugee cap to 62,500 in the current fiscal year. He also said he would expand it to 125,000 next year, according to an RT report.
Just 29 percent of Americans in a Quinnipiac poll said that they approve of Biden's handling of the border situation. White House press secretary Jen Psaki and other officials had repeatedly denied a crisis on the southern border.
READ MORE: Kamala Harris Has No Plans Yet to Visit U.S.-Mexico Border
WATCH: Kamala Harris Actively 'Avoids' Border Crisis: Border Patrol Council President - From Fox News
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