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Democrats are split on where they are placing blame for the spiraling crisis at the southern border, as Vice President Harris refuses to comment on the matter, claiming she hasn’t been briefed on the situation.
Liberal Democratic leadership has continued to deflect blame for the crisis on the policies of former President Donald Trump, while progressives remain opposed to the use of migrant detention centers and have expressed their dissatisfaction with Biden.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is standing by the commander-in-chief as of Wednesday, telling MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Wednesday that, “the president has been in office not quite two months.”
“They are addressing it and it will improve,” the top ranking House Democrat continued, adding that they were “all impatient” to reunite children separated from their parents at the border.
While Pelosi declined to consider blaming the current White House occupant for the crisis enveloping the southern border, she did acknowledge that it was, in fact, a crisis.
“As far as the children are concerned, you can imagine me as a mother of five, every minute that a parent is separated from a child to me is a crisis,” Pelosi said. “So we want this to move along expeditiously.”
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), meanwhile, said during his weekly Wednesday press conference that, “The facts on the ground have made clear that the beginnings of an increase in young people arriving at our southern border started prior to Joe Biden’s election.
“But of course, they want to distract from the fact that every single Republican in the House and the Senate voted against the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan,” he continued, placing blame on his colleagues on the other side of the aisle.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) also declined to classify the situation in such stark terms, saying, “I wouldn’t call it a crisis, but it certainly is a challenge.”
However, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a staunch progressive, told MSNBC over the weekend, however, that Biden’s handling of the situation was not acceptable to him, going as far as to call it “morally unacceptable” and argue that “human rights violations” were taking place.
“I just read a report that some of the children don’t have food, they aren’t being able to shower, they’re being held for more than 72 hours without going to Office of Refugee Resettlement, they aren’t being given access to lawyers,” the California progressive alleged without naming the specific report.
“These are human rights violations. We need to expedite and make sure they’re allowed to apply for asylum, we need to expedite their reunification with families, and put them in a place that isn’t behind bars as unaccompanied minors and at least has food and proper shelter.”
Meanwhile, Vice President Harris said Wednesday that she was not read up on the issue, and not prepared to comment.
Speaking to reporters before boarding a plane en route to Joint Base Andrews, Harris made the admission after being asked if she was worried about the children on the border.
“I haven’t been briefed on anything today about it, but I will when I get on the plane,” the VP said before walking to board the military jet.
In undoing former President Donald Trump’s border initiatives, President Biden unleashed a flood of Central American and Mexican illegal migrants at the US border, including thousands of unescorted children.
In his first month in office, Biden ended construction of Trump’s signature border wall and began to end the “Remain in Mexico” policy under which about 71,000 Central American asylum applicants were awaiting rulings in Mexico.
He issued an order affirming the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which gives work permits and protection from deportation to people brought illegally to the US as minors.
He has also proposed legislation that would create a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the US.
Insisting that the border was not facing a crisis, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said earlier this month that the problems the agency faced should be blamed on the previous administration — despite data showing migrants flooding the border because they believe Biden will welcome them with open arms.
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