VP Harris to Visit Guatemala, Mexico to Discuss Migration, Human Trafficking, Corruption

Official White House Photo

Alexandra Jaffe and Christopher Sherman for the Associated Press report on Vice President Kamala Harris's visit this week  to Guatemala and Mexico, her first foreign trip as vice president.  During the trip, the Biden administration is expected to announce new measures to fight smuggling and trafficking, and hopes to announce additional anti-corruption efforts.  The Vice President has been tasked by President Joe Biden with addressing the root causes of the migration to the U.S.-Mexico border.

CNN previously reported that "since the President asked her to take charge of immigration from Central America, Vice President Kamala Harris and her staff have sought to make one thing clear: She does not manage the southern border.

Two White House officials familiar with the dynamic said Harris and her aides have emphasized internally that they want to focus on conditions in Central America that push migrants to the US southern border . . .  A record number of unaccompanied children crossed into the US this spring, and the throngs of desperate minors present a heart-rending problem as well as a political one."

 

Neither President Biden or the Vice President have visited the U.S./Mexico border.  Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has visited the border three times.  It appears that Vice President Harris is seeking to avoid the messy politics of border enforcement while taking on high profile -- and presidential -- foreign diplomacy.

 

KJ