Presented with rise in border crossings, Kamala Harris chose a long-term approach to the problem

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden, watching tens of thousands of migrants from Central America reach the U.S.-Mexico border just a few months into his administration, tapped his second-in-command to help address the influx — a decision that has exposed Vice President Kamala Harris to one of her biggest political liabilities. While migration from the Northern Triangle ebbed, it surged from other nations, sparking an emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, one that Republicans have aggressively sought to exploit at Harris’ expense. What to know about the 2024 Election Today’s news: Follow live updates Ground Game: Sign up for AP’s weekly politics newsletter AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Harris was never the “border czar,” or put in charge of border security or halting illegal border crossings, as former President Donald Trump, Republicans and even the occasional media outlet have claimed. Instead, she was tasked in March 2021 with tackling the “root causes” of migration from the Northern Triangle and pushing its leaders — along with Mexico’s — to enforce immigration laws, administration officials said. Vice President Kamala Harris, right, smiles as women speak to her about their businesses during a meeting with Guatemalan women entrepreneurs and innovators at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, June 7, 2021, in Guatemala City. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) “She felt — and I think she was right — that what she could do the most was help basically lead the effort to draw in investment, using the confidence that a relationship with the White House would give to investors,” said Ricardo Zúniga, a former State Department official who specialized in the Northern Triangle and who traveled with Harris to the region. “She was like, ‘nope, I’m just root causes,’’” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for less immigration. “Even if it worked, it’s the sort of thing that takes generations, not one term.” He also said there was no evidence that Harris pushed Mexico and the Northern Triangle nations to enforce immigration laws. Harris has defended her work, and her campaign began running a television ad Friday that said Harris as president would “hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking.” Democrats have also blasted Trump for helping tank a bipartisan immigration bill earlier this year that would have increased funding for border security, including the hiring of new Customs and Border Protection personnel. Trump “has been talking a big game on securing the border, but he does not walk the walk,” the vice president said last month in Atlanta. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump said he would build a wall along the border between the United States and Mexico and get Mexico to pay for it. The former president also used explosive language to describe immigrants, launching his campaign by suggesting Mexico was sending its “rapists” and criminals to the United States. Vice President Kamala Harris walks to board Air Force Two to return to Washington, Jan. 27, 2022, in Palmerola, Honduras. Border Patrol arrests on the southern border fell in Trump’s first year in office, then shot back up his next two, rising to more than 850,000 in 2019. When Biden took office, he reversed dozens of Trump’s moves on immigration even as apprehension numbers began to rise. Harris was put in a ‘difficult spot’ Harris received the migration assignment when border crossings were rising, garnering considerable attention and leading to bipartisan calls for action. Chris Newman, an immigration rights advocate in Los Angeles, said Harris was put in a difficult spot. “She was tasked with developing a long-term policy framework rather than creating a short-term political performance project,” said Newman, the legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. El Salvador’s new president, Nayib Bukele, had a fraught relationship with the administration due to human rights questions raised by his crackdown on crime in his nation. Harris traveled to Mexico and Guatemala in June 2021, where she defended the fact she had not been to the U.S.-Mexico border during an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt by saying she hadn’t “been to Europe. And I mean, I don’t … understand the point that you’re making.” She also drew criticism on that trip for warning migrants bluntly: “Don’t come” to the U.S. Harris decided to focus on bringing private investment to the region, tapping into a network of business and nonprofit executives and using the prestige of the White House to signal the Biden administration was backing this effort. Vice President Kamala Harris and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wave from the balcony of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, Nov. 18, 2021. “We are on track to exceed our commitments,” Peter Bragdon, a top executive at Columbia Sportswear Company, said of their promise to purchase up to $200 million in products from the region. The executive called Harris’ efforts a “work in progress” but “a smart approach.” Katie Tobin, who worked as the top migration adviser at the National Security Council for three years, credited Harris’ focus with spurring investment in reducing these numbers, arguing that Harris “was able to leverage her credibility” and the power of the White House to persuade companies to invest in “a risky investment environment.” “That was very much Kamala Harris,” she added. “I have never seen something like that done before in this space and it made a real impact.” Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, a sharp critic of Harris, said the vice president and White House were taking credit for investments that would have been made anyway. The companies are “not doing it because someone asked them to,” said Scott, who co-founded a major medical company. “I came out of it convinced that she has a genuine interest in seeing things change in Central America,” Aldana said. The vice president also deserves credit for helping stop Guatemala’s former president, Alejandro Giammattei, from overturning the 2023 election of his successor, Bernardo Arévalo, according to Luis Von Ahn, a U.S.-based technology entrepreneur from Guatemala. “Giammattei didn’t want to leave power, the administration of Kamala Harris came and told him ’stop (messing) around,’” said Von Ahn, the founder of the language app Duolingo. If an extremely corrupt president doesn’t want to leave it’s terrible and (his exit) lets us be a better country.” Verdict is out on Harris’ approach While the Harris campaign and White House have pointed to statistics that show migration from Northern Triangle countries has dropped substantially since early 2021, there is debate over what is responsible for that drop. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Harris and the administration deserve credit for the reduction because their efforts “worked.” Independent analysts, however, said they were skeptical that Harris’ approach was responsible for the dip. They said the decrease was likely driven by regional factors, including the ascension of El Salvador’s new president and his aggressive drive to combat violent crime. “Even a whole lot of economic development doesn’t curb immigration in the way countries hope it will,” Gelatt said. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://apnews.com/46d23ad3b0e8a1780ac0a6a306120b3c