FIRST ON FOX: Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are investigating Vice President Kamala Harris’ role in dealing with the crisis at the southern border — demanding that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) turn over any internal communications with her office on illegal immigration.
“The mass illegal migration under the Biden-Harris Administration has contributed to murders, sexual assaults, and serious bodily injuries committed against numerous Americans at the hands of illegal aliens,” Chairman James Comer said in a letter to acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller, obtained first by Fox News Digital.
“The Committee requests documents and communications to understand Vice President Harris’s role in the worst border crisis in American history.”
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In 2021, as numbers started rising dramatically at the southern border, President Biden told reporters that Harris was now in charge of tackling root causes, such as climate change, poverty and violence, which the administration believed to be driving migrants north.
US Vice President Kamala Harris was subbed the “border czar” by Republicans and some in the media. (Leigh Vogel/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“There’s about five other major things she’s handling, but 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,” he said.
It quickly led to Harris being dubbed by media outlets and Republicans as the “border czar.” The White House rejected that title, but it has stuck with her ever since and made her a figurehead along with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the crisis.
Now as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, Republicans have zeroed in on her handling of the border crisis, under which there have been record encounters at the southern border. They claim that those numbers are a direct result of the rolling back of Trump-era border protections and the implementation of what they call “open border” policies.
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Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, during a hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The letter to Miller called Harris’ record “abysmal” and noted prior comments suggesting immigration enforcement should be reworked, and her history of calling for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
“The Committee seeks to understand whether Vice President Harris has ‘done anything’ to address the worst border crisis in American history,” the letter says.
The committee is seeking “All documents and communications between U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Executive Office of the Vice President related to the southwest border or illegal immigration.”
CBP and Harris’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
The Biden administration has pushed back against that narrative, pointing to a sharp drop in numbers since President Biden signed an executive order placing limits on asylum claims in June.
The White House has pointed to a more than 50% decrease in encounters, and a more than 70% increase in removals, as well as a return of more than 50,000 people to over 100 countries. Meanwhile, in terms of the root causes push by Harris, a project to rally private-sector investment in the region via a call to action has seen more than $5.2 billion committed since May 2021 from over 50 companies and organizations. The number of encounters from those three countries has since fallen from over 700,000 in FY 21 to over 330,000 this fiscal year so far, although it is not clear to what extent it is connected to her efforts.
The administration has accused Republicans of failing to provide additional funding and immigration reform. That fight has spilled over into the campaigns, where the Trump and Harris campaigns have battled over the narrative at the border.
Harris criticized former President Trump at a rally in Atlanta last week, saying he “has been talking a big game about securing our border, but he does not walk the walk.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS
She charged that the former president “tanked the bipartisan deal because he thought it would help him win an election” and pledged that “as the president I will bring back the border security bill that Donald Trump killed.”
Days later, Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, attacked Harris during a visit to the border.
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“It’s hard to believe until you see it with your own eyes, just how bad the policies of the Kamala Harris administration have been when it comes to the southern border,” Vance said in Cochise County, Arizona.
