Border mayors judge Harris' performance on immigration crisis as vice president: 'Nonexistent'
'She needed to be here,' said one Texas mayor about the vice president
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Vice President Kamala Harris' record on immigration and border security has been thin in her current role, according to three mayors along the southern border, leaving questions about how she plans to tackle one of the biggest issues in the 2024 presidential election.
"From where I sit, I would grade the vice president's performance of the border crisis as pretty much nonexistent," Mayor Douglas Nicholls of Yuma, Arizona, told Fox News Digital.
President Biden assigned Harris to tackle the root causes of Central American migration, from poverty to violence, in early 2021. Harris traveled to Mexico and Guatemala that June, and negotiated a deal that saw the U.S. send $4 billion to Central American countries, with private companies kicking in an extra $5.2 billion.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Vice President Kamala Harris visited Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei at the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura on June 7, 2021. Harris made few visits to the border or the countries south of it during her time as vice president, despite being tasked with addressing the root causes of Central American migration. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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She also visited El Paso, Texas, in 2021, amid mounting pressure from Republicans.
But Harris' focus faded from immigration after that, and she has not visited the southern border or any Central American countries since January 2022.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Every border is different," Mayor Jorge Maldonado of Nogales, Arizona, said. "'Til you see her come here and really look at our border and pay any interest, you know, she doesn't know what Nogales is."
Nogales sits above "one of the hardest borders to get to," Maldonado said, sparing it from much of the migrant surge other sectors endured.
But Customs and Border Protection does send lots of migrants from other areas to the small, remote city because it is home to a large processing center, which caused some chaos at the height of the surge when officials began releasing migrants, Maldonado said.
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Media outlets and Republicans gave Harris the moniker of "border czar" shortly after she received her root causes directive. The White House rejected that nickname at the time, and is pushing back on it again as Harris' critics argue she failed to make any difference at the border.
"The term ‘border czar’ … it's become more of a political liability since there wasn't a lot done," Nicholls said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"She needed to be here," Dr. Victor Treviño, mayor of Laredo, Texas, said when asked about the White House's opposition to the informal title. But now, he said he sees a "great opportunity" for Harris to get bold on immigration.
Treviño attended a gathering of Latino leaders last week at the vice president's residence in D.C. and said he saw a new side to Harris. As vice president, she was very quiet, he said. Since becoming a candidate, Harris is "communicative and very outspoken on things that need to be done," he said.
"If she continues to function in that fashion, I think she'll have a very good chance," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Immigrants wait to be processed by the U.S. Border Patrol after crossing into the United States on Aug. 6, 2022, in Yuma, Arizona. (Photo by Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
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Treviño is inviting Harris to visit the border in Laredo ahead of the election, as immigration continues to rank high among voters' priorities.
"The Latino vote is crucial for her if she is to win the presidency," Treviño said. "She needs to look at our challenges and be involved with what we live and work every day here."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News Digital reached out to the Vice President's campaign and the White House, but did not immediately hear back.
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Ramiro Vargas contributed to the accompanying video.