What Vice President Harris left unsaid about the Biden administration's role in the border crisis: Timeline

Vice President Kamala Harris took a series of questions from Fox News' Bret Baier on Wednesday about her administration's record on the border crisis, including key decisions that critics say fueled a historic immigration crisis. was not mentioned.

“Before we tackled infrastructure, before the Anti-Inflation Act, before the Chip and Science Act, before the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first bill we introduced to Congress was virtually a number from the swearing-in. It was delivered in time. It's a bill that fixes our immigration system,” Harris said in response to a question about how the administration handled the border crisis.

But Harris skimmed some of the bill's details and did not mention other actions taken by the administration at the time.

Kamala Harris avoids question about Biden's mental breakdown: 'Joe Biden is not on the ballot'

January 2021:

After taking office, the Biden administration introduced sweeping immigration reform legislation, as Harris mentioned. Farmworkers would also receive immediate green card eligibility, along with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). After three years, they will be eligible for citizenship.

The bill would also significantly increase the number of green cards and other entry routes available to foreign nationals. It would also have abolished country-specific caps and introduced strategies to address the “root causes” of immigration.

Additionally, the administration announced on the same day that it would suspend all deportations for 100 days. It was ultimately blocked by a federal judge following a lawsuit from the state of Texas.

Biden also ordered a halt to all border wall construction, an abrupt move that resulted in piles of unused border wall material strewn across the border.

Separately, the administration also ended its “Remain in Mexico” policy, which forced asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their asylum cases were heard. Supporters had argued that it effectively ended “catch and release” in areas where the policy was implemented.

Other orders included directives to uphold protections for DACA recipients and a reversal of President Trump's restrictions on travel from Muslim-majority countries.

Migrants who crossed the Rio Grande into El Paso, Texas, are lined up along the border wall waiting to be processed by the Border Patrol. (Helica Martinez/AFP via Getty Images)

March 2021: Harris dubbed 'border czar'

Encounters at the southern border soon began to spike, and President Biden took steps to put Harris in charge of tackling the root causes. The administration said issues such as climate change, poverty and violence were driving migrants north.

As a result, Harris quickly became known as the “border czar” by the media and the Republican Party. The White House rejected the title, but it has stuck with her ever since, making her a crisis figurehead alongside Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

June 2021 – “Please don’t come”

Harris, as the White House said her role was more diplomatic than directly related to the border, as numbers surged to record highs in the months following Biden's mission. was immediately pressured to visit the border. Instead, she traveled to Mexico and Guatemala with a tough message for immigrants that angered immigration activists.

“Please don't come. Please don't come. The United States will continue to enforce our laws and protect our borders,” she said. “If you come to the border, you'll be turned away.”

She is pressured to go to the border itself, eventually visiting the border in El Paso, Texas.

Kamala Harris reiterates her support for Trump in FOX News interview when grilled about immigration record

September 2021: ICE on Ice

After a long legal battle, first to block deportations and then over guidance narrowing domestic enforcement, the Biden administration has released official rules for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

“Thus, the mere fact that an individual is a removable non-citizen should not be the sole basis for enforcement action against that individual,” the memo states.

This limited agents from targeting recent border crossers, national security threats, and public safety threats. This guidance coincided with a sharp decline in deportations and arrests. The administration has blamed this on coronavirus-era regulations, but Republicans said it was part of broader enforcement cuts.

The same month also saw controversy surrounding claims that Border Patrol agents whipped migrants on horseback in Texas were debunked. Mr. Harris helped promote these claims.

“I saw depictions of people on horses treating people as they are, and it was horrifying,” Harris told reporters. “And I fully support what's happening right now, which is a thorough investigation into what's going on there. But no human being should ever be treated that way. And I I'm deeply concerned about that. And I'm going to talk to you about it again today.'' ”

A subsequent investigation found that officials were at fault for minor violations, but that the underlying claim that migrants were caned was not true.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, Democrats used budget reconciliation to bypass a Republican filibuster and give undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship.

Several plans were proposed but were deemed inappropriate by senators. The bill died in October after Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said he opposed forcing amnesty through the process.

2022: Will Title 42 remain or disappear?

In 2022, the Biden administration sparked outrage by announcing its intention to repeal Title 42, a coronavirus-era order that allows border officials to quickly turn back migrants at the border for security reasons.

The administration was blocked by a federal judge and faced bipartisan opposition to the move, given that the number of immigrants was on the rise, reaching more than 2.3 million in fiscal year 2023, a record at the time.

The administration said it had a plan for the order, but critics, including border Democrats, were unconvinced.

The administration also faced legal challenges over ICE rules for agents and a stricter legislative structure after Republicans took control of the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, Harris traveled to the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles to meet with other leaders on how to deal with the crisis. During that summit, she announced that $3.2 billion in commitments had been secured from private companies. She also doubled down on explaining the root causes of the crisis.

2023: More records broken

FY2023 broke the record with more than 2.4 million encounters. It was also the year that the Biden administration finally lifted Title 42. The administration ended in May by pouring resources into the border and announcing new consequences for illegal immigration.

This combined these with a number of parole programs using the controversial CBP One app. These programs allow 30,000 immigrants a month to fly directly from four countries with pre-approval, and up to 1,450 immigrants a month if they make a reservation at a port of entry and meet certain conditions. It is now possible to enter the country by crossing the southern border.

In the weeks immediately after Title 42 ended, that number dropped precipitously, but rose again by year's end, hitting a record 250,000 in December.

2024: Battle of Border Bills

In her interview with Baier, Harris referenced the bipartisan border bill unveiled by lawmakers in January 2024. The bill, authored by senators including Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), would impose entry restrictions if certain thresholds are met.

It would also speed up the issuance of work permits, strengthen “credible fear” screening and significantly increase funding and staffing for border authorities.

But some liberals opposed it, citing emergency border powers, and some conservatives argued it would legislate large numbers of illegal immigrants. Former President Trump also opposed it. The issue gave the administration and Harris ammunition to blame Trump for alleged inaction in response to the crisis.

“I was just talking to border officials at the border, and they'll tell you… we need more judges. We need to process those cases faster. Prosecution. They need this support. They need more resources, and at the end of the day, only Congress can solve this problem,” Harris said Wednesday.

“We worked to support bipartisan efforts to actually strengthen the border, including some of the most conservative members of the U.S. Congress. “That's why Border Patrol agents supported this bill,” she continued. “If we had done that, we would have been able to stem the flow of fentanyl coming into the United States. Fentanyl is a scourge that affects and kills people from every background and every geographic location in our country. , more resources could have been devoted to the prosecution of cross-border cases. As a former attorney general of a border state, I have been involved in investigating criminal organizations.”

“Donald Trump found out about the bill and told them to repeal it because he wanted to solve the problem more than solve the problem,” she said.

Border Patrol agents intercept a group of asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border near Sasabe, Arizona, on March 13, 2024. (Justin Hummel/Getty Images)

June 2024: Biden takes executive action.

As the number of migrants at the border remains high, Biden has taken steps to limit entry into the U.S. The executive order halted entry of migrants across the border once immigration reached a certain level.

Subsequently, the number of encounters plummeted by more than 50%. Administration officials said this was an order from President Biden, but stressed that Congress still needs to pass a bipartisan bill.

Among the many high-profile crimes committed by illegal immigrants, the issue of immigration crime will also be a major concern.

In February, Laken Riley, a nursing student at Augusta University, was allegedly bludgeoned to death by an illegal Venezuelan immigrant while jogging on the University of Georgia campus. Suspect Jose Ibarra was encountered by U.S. Border Patrol in September 2022, paroled, and entered the United States.

In July, two undocumented immigrants were arrested on capital murder charges in the death of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nangaray in Houston, Texas. Jocelyn left her parents' home to buy a late-night soda, but police say Johan Jose Rangel Martinez and Franklin Jose Pena Ramos took her out of the convenience store. . The men are suspected of luring her under a bridge, tying her up, killing her, and then throwing her body into the river. Officials acknowledged they were in the country illegally that year, but were released on a recognizance order pending an immigration court hearing.

Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden attend a campaign event at the IBEW Local Union #5 union hall in Pittsburgh on September 2, 2024. (AP/Jacqueline Martin)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Asked about these incidents, Mr Harris said:

“First of all, let me just say that these are tragic events. There's no question about that. There's no question about that. And the families of the victims, I can't imagine the pain I've gone through because of this loss that shouldn't have happened.'' That's true. If the border security bill had actually been passed nine months ago, nine months later we would have had more Border Patrol agents and more support for working people. “We're working around the clock trying to put everything together,” she said.

Harris criticized former President Donald Trump for not supporting the bill and vowed to repeal the bill and sign it into law if elected to the White House, but also vowed to “have strong border security and a path we've earned.” It also calls for “comprehensive reform” including civil rights. ”