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Vice President Kamala Harris' trip to Guatemala and Mexico this past week showcased her total disregard for the heartbreaking crisis currently taking place at our southern border and a flippant attitude about her own role in exacerbating the issue. Unfortunately, this carelessness is exactly what we have come to expect from the Biden administration.
In the time since she has been put in charge of the administration's immigration response, Vice President Harris has routinely laughed at the prospect of visiting the southern border, dismissed the idea as "political games," and disparaged Congressional Republicans' fact-finding border trips as a "grand gesture." In a recent interview with Lester Holt, the Vice President displayed a complete lack of understanding about this crisis, going so far as to compare visiting the border to taking a trip to Europe, and once again laughing when confronted about her refusal to bear witness to this tragedy firsthand.
While Vice President Harris parades her likeness on cookies for the press corps, the Biden administration's failed policies are playing out for the world to see. Illegal border crossings are now at a 21-year-high. Despite the surge in illegal immigration, the Biden-Harris budget sets out to cut Customs and Border Protection funding and would revoke funds previously allocated by Congress for the construction of the border wall.
This decision fails to consider the massive quantities of supplies already in place to finish the wall, now obsolete, and left to rot in the desert sun. These already-appropriated resources should be in use, protecting families living in border communities who fear for their lives as dangerous criminals and drugs pour across the border.
In stark contrast to the Vice President's nonchalant approach to the border, House Republicans are taking proactive steps to solve this crisis. I recently traveled to the border with my colleagues to assess the crisis firsthand, and what we witnessed was nothing short of heartbreaking.
At a roundtable with ranchers in New Mexico, we heard the devastating story of a rancher who was kidnapped 12 miles from the border as his employer spent the night terrified that he would never make it back. She told us, speaking through tears, "It was probably the worst night I've ever spent in my entire life because I figured we wouldn't get him back alive." The kidnapping victim spent the next nine months in extensive counseling for the trauma he endured at the hands of criminals who should have never been in our country.
We also heard from exasperated border patrol agents who feel betrayed by the Biden administration. The agents told me that they feel the administration has made our law enforcement out to be "the bad guy[s]." Now that President Biden has officially ended the Migrant Protection Protocols which required asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while awaiting their court dates, these agents face a mounting crisis with no end in sight. It is no wonder why so many of them are considering early retirement and calling themselves the "U.S. Welcome Patrol."
While Vice President Harris finds humor in the growing humanitarian and security crisis at out southern border, the safety and security of the American people is no laughing matter. Pennsylvanians and American families across our country have had enough of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' failed policies and their blatant disregard for addressing our nation's problems. The solution to this crisis does not involve cookies or press conferences -- it starts with reinstating the Trump policies that were working and taking action to protect American citizens.
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Congressman Fred Keller represents the 12th Congressional District, which includes Mifflin, Juniata, Snyder and Perry counties.