Vice President Kamala Harris sparred Wednesday during a Fox News interview when pressed on her administration’s handling of border security and immigration policies.
During an appearance on Fox News’s “Special Report With Bret Baier,” host Bret Baier questioned the effectiveness of the administration’s immigration strategies. Baier opened the discussion by citing the substantial number of individuals “released into the country over the last three and a half years.”
“Well, I’m glad you raised the issue of immigration because I agree with you. It is a topic of discussion that people want to rightly have. And you know what I’m going to talk about,” Harris told Baier. The conversation got heated when Baier interjected, asking for a rough estimate of the people released into the country.
“Brett, let’s just get to the point. Okay. The point is that we have a broken immigration system that needs to be repaired,” Harris said. Baier continued to challenge Harris as he highlighted the rollback of the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy, which required migrants to stay in Mexico while their U.S. asylum claims were processed.
This policy shift, Baier argued, led to the release of many single adult men who later committed crimes. Harris responded by emphasizing the comprehensive nature of the administration’s approach.
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“At the beginning of our administration, within practically hours of taking the oath, the first bill that we offered Congress. Before we worked on infrastructure, before the Inflation Reduction Act, before the Chips and Science Act, before the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first bill, practically within hours of taking the oath, was a bill to fix our immigration system,” Harris explained.
Baier interjected again to comment on the bill the vice president was referring to, but Harris insisted on completing her response.
“May I finish responding, please? You have to let me finish,” Harris told Baier. “I’m responding to the point you’re raising, and I’d like to finish. We recognized from day one that, to the point of this being your first question, it is a priority for us as a nation and for the American people. And our focus has been on fixing a problem.”
This isn’t the first time Harris had trouble discussing the border. During a forum with Oprah Winfrey, Harris veered off topic when addressing illegal immigration and instead referenced her tenure as California’s attorney general and discussed a failed bipartisan border bill.
Despite President Joe Biden’s executive order that capped border entries, resulting in a decrease in recorded illegal crossings, migrants continue to enter the U.S. through alternative routes like the CBP One app and the CHNV program, concealing the full magnitude of the border crisis. This persistent influx challenges perceptions of improved border control under the Biden-Harris administration.
Featured Image Credit: Gage Skidmore
