White House offers details of VP Harris’ Friday visit to El Paso
WASHINGTON, DC -- The White House provided the first details late Thursday of Vice President Kamala Harris' planned Friday visit to the Borderland as part of the Biden administration's efforts to develop a strategy to address the "root causes" of an ongoing migrant surge at the U.S.-Mexico border.
It will be the vice president's first visit to the border since taking office and assuming a lead role on immigration issues, although her staff noted that Harris "has traveled to the border previously" many times as a senator and attorney general from California.
Officials said Harris' itinerary will start with a visit to El Paso's Central Processing Central at Hondo Pass utilized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. She'll receive a walking tour followed by an operational briefing that will focus on the use of new technology as well as efforts to combat transnational crime.
The vice president will also meet with migrants during the CBP facility tour. Afterwards, Harris will meet with migrant advocates and relief groups to gain their perspective. Finally, she's expected to deliver brief remarks to the media and take a few questions, officials said.
The White House indicated Harris would be joined throughout the visit by U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durban of Illinois.
Officials said the El Paso visit is a continuation of work that began when Harris recently visited Guatemala and Mexico; the trip to the two Central American nations gave Harris a look at the "cause" of the migrant surge, while El Paso will provide a view of the "effect."
El Paso was selected because it is "a vibrant border city with three busy ports of entry," Harris' top adviser said in explaining why the Sun City was picked over the Rio Grande Valley - where some critics content there is a higher flow of migrants.
Symone Sanders noted that "El Paso was also the birthplace of the Trump administration's family separation policy" and its “zero-tolerance” Title 42 expulsion effort. "It is an important part of the story here, and one that you can expect we will continue to tell tomorrow on the ground."
Sanders did not give any details on when the Biden administration plans to end the Trump-era Title 42 expulsions, even though she maintained that the Biden administration inherited "a broken and inhumane immigration system."
"The previous administration's policies led to chaos at the border, family separation, inhumane conditions, dismal diplomacy towards and with Central America," Sanders said.
El Paso's Fort Bliss Army base, which currently has an on-post facility being utilized to house unaccompanied migrant children, will not be visited by Harris. Former workers at the site have raised questions about the quality of care there.
In response, a Harris spokeswoman said the Biden administration is "concerned" about those reports and takes it seriously. She said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services "is taking steps to uphold high standards" and had already made a number of improvements, including currently deploying 50 mental health professionals on site.
In anticipation of Harris' arrival on Friday, the Border Patrol's El Paso sector chief tweeted a welcome message on Thursday evening.
"Very excited to welcome VP Harris & DHS Sec Mayorkas to #ElPaso Sector. They will see first-hand the invaluable work of #USBP Agents & Staff. Together, partnered with our local community, we are overcoming migration challenges in our region," Gloria Chavez said.
Former President Trump is also expected to visit the border in Texas on June 30, although Sanders said that played no factor in Harris' decision to visit El Paso on Friday.
"This administration does not take their cues from Republican criticism, nor from the former president of the United States of America. We have said over a number of different occasions, and the Vice President has said over the course, over the last three months, that she would go to the border, she has been before, she would go again. She would go when it was appropriate, when it made sense. And this trip tomorrow, this timing is what made sense," Sanders explained.
(ABC News contributed to this report.)
