Harris focuses on migration during Mexico trip

Vice President Kamala Harris issued a strong message to those in the Northern Triangle who contemplate making the journey to migrate to the United States illegally: “Do not come.”

Harris spoke during opening remarks at a bilateral press conference with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei in Guatemala City on Monday.

“And I want to emphasize that the goal of our work is to help Guatemalans find hope at home. At the same time, I want to be clear to folks in this region for thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States, Mexico border. Do not come, do not come,” Harris said.

Harris also confirmed that the United States would be sending 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Guatemala, something she shared with Giammattei in a phone call last week.

The Biden administration is facing ongoing political pressure to stem the tide of migrants at the US's southern border, which hit a two-decade high for a single month in April, according to US Customs and Border Protection's latest figures.

Nearly half of the 178,622 migrants encountered at the US-Mexico border came from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras that month.

Harris and her team have also been combating the perception advance by Republicans that she is the Biden administration's border czar. The vice president's portfolio is focused on stemming the root causes of migration, not the situation at the southern border, though the two are closely intertwined.

Vice President Kamala Harris compared not visiting the US-Mexico border to not visiting Europe in an interview that aired, in part, on Tuesday morning, saying it didn’t mean she was “discounting the importance of the border.”

The interview was shot Monday while the vice president was visiting Guatemala before heading to Mexico on her first foreign trip since taking office. NBC’s Lester Holt questioned Harris about why she hasn’t visited the border despite her role on Central American migration.

“I– and I haven't been to Europe. And I mean, I don't—” Harris responded, with a laugh, “I don't understand the point that you're making. I'm not discounting the importance of the border.”

She continued, saying she cares, “about what's happening at the border.”

“I'm in Guatemala because my focus is dealing with the root causes of migration. There may be some who think that that is not important, but it is my firm belief that if we care about what's happening at the border, we better care about the root causes and address them,” Harris said. “And so that's what I'm doing.”

The vice president and President Biden himself have been criticized, including by some in their own party, for not visiting the border as illegal crossings have surged. Last week, Rep. Henry Cuellar – a Texas Democrat – said it was “important” for the President and vice president to visit. 

Previewing her Tuesday meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Vice President Kamala Harris said that she will emphasize the United States longstanding partnership with its neighbor and the role it plays as a partner to the US in the region. The two leaders are set to meet at 11:00 a.m. ET.  

Harris gaggled with reporters after her trip to Guatemala on Monday, saying she thought it was a good visit and she accomplished her goal of having direct conversations with people on the ground.

“There’s obviously a lot of work to do but there really is a lot of reason to know that there is hope in this region,” Harris said of her visit to the country.

Harris did not directly answer when asked why she emphasized that the US would turn migrants who were seeking asylum away at the US boarder when the reason they are seeing asylum in the first place is because they are fleeing a horrible situation, saying instead she is on the trip to address the root causes of the migration.

Kamala Harris left for Latin America on Sunday under intense political pressure to stem the flow of migrants to the US, with lots of people asking what she's doing heading out on her first foreign trip as vice president before releasing a comprehensive strategy.

The answer, according to people close to her, is that she's putting in the leg work to help inform the administration's strategy – and her own – for dealing with the tough assignment she's been handed.

She was in Guatemala yesterday, and is in Mexico today not to implement a one-and-done solution, but rather treating it as a fact-finding mission. The approach — and the studying up she's been doing before her departure — is classic Harris.

"We're still in the information-gathering mode, getting very close to being able to finalize it," a White House official told CNN. "The visit will certainly play a role in forming the Biden strategy."

The stakes are high for the first woman of color vice president now entering the international stage and doing so against the backdrop of a growing number of migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border. In April alone, US Customs and Border Protection encountered more than 178,000 migrants, 44% of whom were from Central America.

Despite the political risks the assignment carries, Harris sees it as an opportunity to enhance her foreign policy bona fides. She and her team are hoping for some short-term victories that will allow them to demonstrate progress, like the recent commitment from 12 private companies and organizations to invest in the Northern Triangle.

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