Congressional Republicans have leapt to blame President Joe Biden's administration for a seasonal influx of migrants—including asylum seekers—crossing the southern border, claiming these crossings are the reflection of a weak immigration policy.
After Biden enlisted Vice President Kamala Harris to spearhead the country's immigration reform effort, Republicans lamented that she hadn't taken a trip to the southern border, with some even regularly highlighting the number of days that passed.
This week, Vice President Harris visited the border city of El Paso, Texas where she toured a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility and had discussions with its staff and detainees there, including young immigrant girls.
Harris later said of U.S. immigration policy:
"This issue cannot be reduced to a political issue. We're talking about children. We're talking about families. We're talking about suffering. Our approach has to be thoughtful and effective."
Republicans predictably weren't satisfied, especially Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.
For months, Cruz has lambasted Harris on social media for holding off on a border visit.
Kamala Harris hasn\u2019t been to Europe, she hasn\u2019t been to Australia but we don't have an Australian border crisis or a European border crisis. \n\nWe have a crisis on the southern border. \n\nShe should come to Texas and see the crisis firsthand. #BidenBorderCrisispic.twitter.com/IzwQn0woNY— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1623163811
On the border crisis, Kamala invokes an old leadership style....\n\nhttps://www.cnn.com/2021/06/01/politics/harris-immigration/index.html\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/QUy5Jlv4W7— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1622628226
A sobering reminder about the seriousness of the #BidenBorderCrisis. \n\nIllegal aliens are breaking into homes and starting fires in Texas.\n\nJoe Biden and Kamala Harris must address this crisis.https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/06/13/border-town-of-del-rio-blames-biden-for-flood-of-illegal-immigrants/\u00a0\u2026— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1623696743
But with the Vice President's border trip underway, Cruz is moving the goalposts, now claiming in a Fox News interview that she visited the wrong part of the border.
Watch below.
OLD: Kamala Harris needs to go to the border\n\nNEW: Kamala Harris isn't going to the right part of the borderpic.twitter.com/xYIx3SDWzN— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1624468593
Cruz told Fox's John Roberts:
"El Paso is a lovely city. It is a beautiful place in Texas. It is not also, it also doesn't happen to be the locus of the crisis."
He went on to say Harris should've visited the Rio Grande Valley instead.
"Lemme tell you what Kamala needs to do. Kamala, you need to go to the Rio Grande Valley. Kamala, you need to go to McAllen. Kamala, you need to go to the Donna temp facility, which is the tent city your administration has built."
El Paso sees hundreds of border crossings per day, according to KFOXTV of Texas. Cruz, along with other congressional Republicans, even took a widely publicized trip to El Paso to call attention to the situation at the border.
Cruz's words didn't go unnoticed.
Ah yes, the old \u2018they need to do X\u2019 but when they do X \u2018Not like that!\u2019https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1407749429961048073\u00a0\u2026— Laura wears a mask Fry, GCW master weaver (@Laura wears a mask Fry, GCW master weaver) 1624470385
Pick a card, any card...no, not that one.https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1407749429961048073\u00a0\u2026— ~Randy Sumbitch~ (@~Randy Sumbitch~) 1624540989
Eyes rollinghttps://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1407749429961048073\u00a0\u2026— \u2696 I'm Speaking - Biden/Harris WIN!!!\ud83d\udc9c (@\u2696 I'm Speaking - Biden/Harris WIN!!!\ud83d\udc9c) 1624470723
These people are beyond parody.https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1407749429961048073\u00a0\u2026— Frank Sharry (@Frank Sharry) 1624469808
Who could possibly have anticipated this dishonest goalpost-shifting?https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1407749429961048073\u00a0\u2026— TeeKay (@TeeKay) 1624468666
Always whining.https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1407749429961048073\u00a0\u2026— Wallflower (@Wallflower) 1624468950
Some reminded Cruz of his own ill-advised trip to Mexico—to Cancún, to be exact—as his state suffered devastating winter storms.
How far is Cancun from Texas during a winter storm power outage?https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1407749429961048073\u00a0\u2026— Joshua Plante (@Joshua Plante) 1624541259
Ted needs to go to cancun, oh wait, he already did.https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1407749429961048073\u00a0\u2026— DeepDishDaddy (@DeepDishDaddy) 1624468714
@SenTedCruz HOW far is Cancun from Texas?https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1407749429961048073\u00a0\u2026— shell (@shell) 1624489713
Harris assures that improvements are being made on the situation at the border.
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