There’s lots to say about Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for the November presidential election, but describing her as the “border czar” isn’t one of them. The U.S. has no border czar. The person in charge of border security is Alejandro Mayorkas, the head of the Department of Homeland Security. President Joe Biden did task Vice President Harris with meeting leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras in 2021 to discuss the root causes of the migration of citizens from those countries into the U.S.
The results of those meetings have been quickly forgotten. There’s little mystery why those from the southern hemisphere seek to enter the U.S., legally or illegally. And there’s no serious dispute that the issues connected with their migration into the U.S. have made a hash of border security. The dilemma is how to counter this with an effective comprehensive border reform bill. The last such measure was enacted over three decades ago. Subsequent efforts to update procedures have been debated but not passed by Congress. President George Bush (R) proposed new bipartisan immigration legislation in 2004 and 2007 and both times his measures were defeated by conservatives in Congress. Similarly, Biden’s recent efforts at this were also killed by conservatives after presidential candidate Donald Trump condemned the bill.
If Congressional Republicans are as serious about border reform as they claim to be, maybe the country can get the comprehensive reform legislation enacted when Harris is president.
Jay Culver
Durango
