House Republicans passed a resolution Thursday condemning Vice President Kamala Harris’s work on the border crisis, with six Democrats joining in support.
With a 220-196 vote, the House approved the four-page resolution criticizing “the Biden Administration and its Border Czar, Kamala Harris’s, failure to secure the United States border.” The passage comes as Republicans aim to highlight the vice president’s oversight of continuing illegal immigration after she became the presumptive Democratic nominee earlier this week.
“Let me be clear: Harris and every elected Democrat owns this historic border crisis that has turned every community into a border community,” Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), who introduced the resolution, said in a statement to National Review. “It is time that we return to President Donald Trump’s border security policies that put the safety of American citizens first.”
Representatives Yadira Caraveo (D., Colo.), Donald Davis (D., N.C.), Jared Golden (D., Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D., Wash.), who voted for the resolution, are currently fighting for reelection in toss-up races, according to the Cook Political Report. Representatives Henry Cuellar (D., Texas) and Mary Peltola (D., Alaska) are in races that lean Democratic, according to CPR.
President Joe Biden tapped Harris to explore the “root causes of migration” in March of 2021. The resolution criticizes Harris for not speaking with the two U.S. Border Patrol Chiefs who have led the agency since her tenure as “border czar” began. It also points to the Border Patrol’s nearly 8 million encounters with illegal immigrants during the Biden administration and the 2 million “known gotaways.”
“President Biden’s and Border Czar Harris’s far left Democrat open border policies are to blame for this historic crisis,” the resolution states, “and in August 2022, Biden and his administration decided to make the border crisis significantly worse by formally ending former President Trump’s successful Remain in Mexico program.”
Illegal border crossings have averaged a record 2 million per year since the start of the Biden administration. The number never reached 1 million during any year under the Trump administration.
As November approaches, illegal immigration will be a key issue in the presidential election and down-ballot races, and Republicans hold an advantage in public opinion. Polling by the Associated Press in April found more than two-thirds of American voters do not approve of the Biden administration’s handling of the border.