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A28 u.s. news
Diabierna 26 Maart 2021

Biden taps VP Harris to lead response to border challenges

president's relationship with the
president,” Goldstein said. “Whether
or not the president had their back.
Whether the president’s going to al-
low you to be in a position to accom-
plish things and be perceived to ac-
complish things.”

Biden made the announcement as
a delegation of White House offi-
cials and members of Congress was
traveled to the southern border on
Wednesday to tour a facility in Car-
rizo Springs, Texas, where more than
750 migrant teenagers are being held.
The Biden administration has in re-
cent weeks moved to open more than
10,000 new beds across the South-
west in convention centers and for-
mer oilfield camps. It notified Con-
gress on Wednesday that it will open
a new 3,000-person facility in San
Antonio and a 1,400-person site at the
San Diego convention center. HHS is
also opening a second site in Carrizo
Springs and received approval from
the Defense Department Wednesday
to begin housing teenagers at military
bases in San Antonio and El Paso,
Texas.

(AP) — President Joe Biden has the first big opportunity to step to the While acknowledging a “big prob-
tapped Vice President Kamala But the high-profile assignment for front of the stage on a matter of enor- lem” with the rising numbers of mi-
Harris to lead the White House Harris, who ran for the Democrat- mous consequence for the admin- grants, Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif.,
effort to tackle the migration ic presidential nomination in 2020 istration. As the first Black woman one of five lawmakers to tour the fa-
challenge at the U.S. southern and is expected to run for the White elected vice president, Harris arrived cility Wednesday, credited the Biden
border and work with Central House again in the future, could be on the job as a trailblazer. It has re- administration with treating young
American nations to address root politically fraught. mained opaque how Biden would migrants far more humanely than the
causes of the problem. utilize her. Trump administration.
“Needless to say, the work will not be
Biden made the announcement as he easy,” Harris said. “But it is important The move echoes not only Obama's In an interview after the tour, Torres
and Harris met at the White House work.” decision to deputize Biden but also described children accommodated
on Wednesday with Health and Hu- Trump naming Vice President Mike four to a room, and said she saw no
man Services Secretary Xavier Becer- Harris is tasked with overseeing dip- Pence to lead his coronavirus task signs of overcrowding. The young
ra, Homeland Security Secretary Ale- lomatic efforts to deal with issues force and President Bill Clinton people attend school, have access to
jandra Mayorkas and other immigra- spurring migration in the Northern handing Vice President Al Gore envi- health care and are given weekly CO-
tion advisers to discuss the increase in Triangle countries of El Salvador, ronmental and technology portfolios VID-19 tests. Lawmakers were told 1
migrants, including many unaccom- Guatemala and Honduras, as well as early in his presidency. in 10 children are testing positive for
panied minors, arriving at the border pressing them to strengthen enforce- the virus, but none at the facility had
in recent weeks. ment on their own borders, adminis- It's been a mixed bag for vice presi- been hospitalized, she said.
tration officials said. She’s also tasked dents in recent history who have
In delegating the matter to Harris, with developing and implementing been made the point person on deli- “When I look at those kids, I see my-
Biden is seeking to replicate a dynam- a long-term strategy that gets at the cate matters, said Joel Goldstein, the self,” said Torres, an immigrant from
ic that played out when he served as root causes of migration from those author of “The White House Vice Guatemala who arrived in the U.S.
President Barack Obama's vice presi- countries. Presidency: The Path to Significance, with her family as a child.
dent. Obama turned to Biden in his Mondale to Biden.”
first term to lead the White House Biden suggested President Donald The White House faced criticism for
effort to draw down U.S. troops in Trump's decision to cut $450 million Pence's efforts on the coronavirus limiting media access to Wednesday’s
Iraq and oversee implementation of funding in 2019 to the region was were stymied by Trump's hijacking of tour, keeping it to just one TV crew.
stimulus in response to the Great Re- partly to blame for the situation. the task force's daily briefings early in It has still not allowed media to enter
cession. the pandemic. Dick Cheney, who had Border Patrol facilities where large
Among the other reasons for the cur- been charged with leading George numbers of children are detained or
“When she speaks, she speaks for rent increase: the thousands of Cen- W. Bush's search for a vice president HHS sites that it rapidly opened un-
me,” Biden said, noting her past work tral American migrants already stuck only to take the spot himself, carved der pressure. The Carrizo Springs
as California's attorney general makes at the border for months and the per- out what was seen by many critics facility was established in 2019 dur-
her specially equipped to lead the ad- sistent scourge of gang violence af- as a shadow presidency in which he ing the Trump administration and re-
ministration's response. flicting the Northern Triangle coun- had an outsized influence on shaping opened in February.
tries. Bush's national security policies.
Biden, who has faced stiff criticism Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas,
from Republicans over the increased Still, the numbers of both unaccom- And Gore faced headwinds from Re- who is leading a separate delegation
flow of migrants, is hoping to show panied minors and families encoun- publicans in Congress who were re- of GOP senators to the border later
Americans he's taking the situation at tered at the border are lower than luctant to give him a win ahead of his this week, decried the lack of press
the border seriously. He also wants they were at various points during unsuccessful 2000 run for the White access as a “muzzling” of the media
to prevent the growing humanitar- the Trump administration, including House. by the Democratic administration.
ian and political challenge from over- in spring 2019.
shadowing his administration's ambi- “Some of the risk versus reward de- “Joe Biden doesn’t want you to see,”
tious legislative agenda. For Harris, the assignment gives her pends to some extent on the vice Cruz told reporters at the Capitol.