During a recent interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” Vice President Kamala Harris confidently told show host Chuck Todd that the southern border is “secure” when she was put on the spot about the status of the U.S./Mexico border and the record number of encounters documented thus far in 2022.
The interview aired on September 11th, with Todd asking Harris, “Would you call the border secure?” In response, Harris segued into the oft-repeated claim of there needing to be a “pathway to citizenship” established before asserting the southern “border is secure.”
“I think that there is no question that we have to do what the president and I asked Congress to do, the first request we made – pass a bill to create a pathway to citizenship. The border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system, in particular, over the last four years before we came in, and it needs to be fixed.”
The NBC News anchor pushed back on the “border is secure” assertion, pointing to the record-breaking number of illegal crossings the U.S. is on track for this year, saying, “We’re going to have 2 million people cross this border for the first time ever, you’re confident this border is secure?”
Harris doubled down in her response, reiterating the claim that the border is “secure” and asserting that there is lacking “pathway for citizenship” in the country.
“We have a secure border in that that is a priority for any nation, including ours and our administration. But there are still a lot of problems that we are trying to fix, given the deterioration that happened over the last four years. We also have to put into place law and a plan for a pathway for citizenship for the millions of people who are here and are prepared to do what is legally required to gain citizenship.”
For the sake of clarity, there already exists a pathway to citizenship: it’s called filling out an N-400 form, paying the filing fees, attending various interviews/screenings, and then awaiting USCIS’ decision on the application.
However, the vice president claims that such a pathway to citizenship is nonexistent due to people “playing politics,” despite the fact that there are currently no barriers slated against individuals applying for U.S. citizenship.
“We don’t have that in place because people are playing politics in a state like this and in Congress.”
Harris also went on to claim that at one point, Republicans and Democrats agreed on issues regarding the southern border, saying, “By the way, you want to talk about bipartisanship on an issue that at one time was a bipartisan issue both in terms of Republican senators and even presidents.”
The vice president is indeed correct that at in the not-too-distant past, Republicans and Democrats did agree on matters related to the southern border and illegal immigration – but in a fashion that Harris likely doesn’t realize. Back in 1993, then-President Bill Clinton introduced his administration’s policy on illegal immigration, where he boasted about securing the southern border and keeping illegal immigrants out of the country.
This piece was written by Gregory Hoyt on September 12, 2022. It originally appeared in RedVoiceMedia.com and is used by permission.
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