WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) published an op-ed in The New York Post, in which he lays out the evidence demonstrating how Vice President and Biden-appointed “border czar” Kamala Harris has failed to resolve the self-inflicted crisis at America’s borders. Further, the op-ed documents how Harris’ prior track record of opposition to border security and interior enforcement helps explain her failure as “border czar.” Read the full op-ed here and below.

‘Border Czar’ Kamala Harris ‘unburdened’ herself of responsibility to secure the country
The New York Post
Chairman Mark Green
August 8, 2024

“Border czar” Kamala Harris’ record on the crisis at America’s borders is now in sharp focus — and the increased scrutiny reveals one of failure and dereliction. 
 
Before examining that record, let’s note that until just recently, it was uncontroversial to label the vice president as the “border czar.” 
 
She was officially tasked by President Biden on March 24, 2021, “to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle…in stemming the movement of…migration to our southern border.” 
 
The Washington Post reported that Biden was “giving Harris the lead role on the overall border and regional issue,” while outlets like Axios even actually labeled her the “border czar.”
 
Understanding, then, that Harris has long held responsibility for ending this self-inflicted crisis, Americans deserve answers on whether she followed through on her charge. 
 
The answer is a resounding no. 
 
On her watch, Customs and Border Protection has recorded approximately 10 million illegal immigrant encounters nationwide, and more than 8 million encounters at the Southwest border. 
 
Additionally, roughly 2 million known gotaways have evaded Border Patrol agents since fiscal year 2021. Encounters at official ports of entry have exploded, from just under 20,000 in January 2021 to more than 117,000 in June 2024. 
 
From fiscal year 2021 through mid-July 2024, the Border Patrol had recorded 52,058 arrests of illegal aliens with criminal backgrounds, compared to 21,936 between fiscal years 2017 to 2020  
 
Apprehensions between ports of entry of individuals on the terrorist watchlist have increased from just 14 in the previous three-year period to 380 since fiscal year 2021.
 
These numbers are not surprising considering Harris’ past anti-enforcement advocacy. In 2015, she declared “[a]n undocumented immigrant is not a criminal.” 
 
That’s a shocking statement from the then-state attorney general, who either did not know or did not care that illegally entering the country is a federal misdemeanor, and a felony for repeat offenders.
 
Furthermore, the statement continues to define her approach to immigration enforcement. 
 
As a US Senator, Harris advocated abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying “We need to probably think about starting from scratch.” 
 
She introduced legislation to strip hundreds of millions of dollars from ICE enforcement operations, and called the construction of new border wall system, a move supported by the overwhelming majority of Border Patrol agents, “a stupid use of money.” 
 
But she has done her worst damage from her “border czar” position.
 
Many of the policies Harris supported as a senator have been implemented on her watch, including cutting ICE beds, stopping border wall construction, and ending Title 42, the Trump-era expulsion measure ordered during the COVID pandemic. 
 
On her watch, illegal crossings by those from Mexico and Northern Triangle countries currently exceed those seen during the Trump administration by an incredible 140%.
 
After dismissing border visits “grand gestures,” she has only made one highly scripted and sanitized trip to the Southwest border, in what a member of her own party called a “politically safe,” “check the box” tour. 
 
And just recently, we learned she has never spoken with current Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens or his predecessor. 
 
Our border czar has repeatedly lied to Americans about the crisis. In September 2022, she falsely claimed on national television, “[t]he border is secure. … We have a secure border in that that is a priority for any nation, including ours and our administration.” 
 
That month, there were 272,338 encounters at our borders nationwide, the worst September in decades. 
 
She also viciously slandered mounted Border Patrol agents in Del Rio in furtherance of the fake “whipping” scandal.
 
She has become a punchline to the cartels. In July 2021, after she warned would-be border crossers not to make the journey, more illegal aliens were apprehended at the Southwest border than any other month in decades — and millions more followed. 
 
According to former Border Patrol Chief and CBP Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan, “Vice President Harris has overseen the worst, unmitigated border security crisis in our lifetime. Her performance has negatively impacted every aspect of our country’s safety and national security and can only be described as a complete failure.”
 
That’s why the House, on a bipartisan vote, passed a resolution condemning the Biden-Harris administration’s open-borders policies, and Harris’ failure to do her job. 
 
We were told that her role was to find the “root causes” of the crisis. It turns out that to do so, all Harris had to do was look in the mirror: Her extreme open-borders policies are why Americans are suffering. 
 
Harris may want to be “unburdened by what has been,” to quote her favorite aphorism, but the families who have lost loved ones to fentanyl poisoning and illegal alien crime do not have that luxury. 
 
Don’t let the media change the subject. Harris has embraced and led on this administration’s failed border policies, and minimized the horrific consequences they have created.
 
She owes the American people an explanation. And we should demand one.

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