Half a dozen House Democrats on Thursday joined their Republican colleagues in passing a resolution that condemns Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, for her failure as "border czar" to secure the U.S. southern border.
The resolution, approved in a 220-196 vote with six Democrats in favor, says it took Harris "93 days as the border czar before finally visiting the southern border on June 25, 2021" and that, during her visit, she went to a city 800 miles away from the border and did not even meet with the Border Patrol chief at the time. Democratic Reps. Jared Golden (Maine), Yadira Caraveo (Colo.), Don Davis (N.C.), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), Henry Cuellar (Texas), and Mary Peltola (Alaska), all of whom represent swing districts and face difficult reelection bids in November, joined Republicans in approving the resolution.
"President Biden’s and Border Czar Harris’s far left Democrat open border policies are to blame for this historic crisis [at the border]," the resolution continues, noting that the 59-year-old vice president is responsible for over 7.9 million illegal immigrant encounters and around 2 million known getaways at the southern border.
The blistering attack on Harris came as she emerged in recent days as the new Democratic front-runner for the presidency following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal on Sunday and is set to face Republican nominee Donald Trump in November.
Democratic officials and pundits recently tried to downplay Harris’s role in the border crisis and denied her title as Biden’s "border czar," even though there had been a consensus in Democratic circles that Harris was in charge of the border after Biden appointed her in March 2021 to investigate the "root causes" of illegal immigration.
The border crisis, according to the Thursday resolution, is "costing the United States approximately $150.7 billion each year and each taxpayer $1,156 each year."
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), who spearheaded the bill, said on the House floor, "No matter what congressional district you go to, the number one issue facing Americans is Kamala Harris’s open border crisis."
"By every metric, Kamala Harris has failed to secure our borders, instead advancing far left Democrats’ failed open border policies and the needs of illegal immigrants over the safety of Americans," Stefanik said. "She has proved that she is unfit to lead."
"In March 2021, President Biden told the country that Vice President Harris was ‘the most qualified person to … lead our efforts’ in stemming the flood of illegal aliens across our Southwest border," House Homeland Security chairman Mark Green (R., Tenn.) said in a statement. "No rational person could look at the years since, and conclude anything except that she was utterly unqualified, and has completely failed."