Former President Donald Trump has said that Vice President Kamala Harris is only now visiting the US-Mexico border because he was about to get there ahead of her.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced Wednesday that Harris would travel to the southern border this Friday.
Hours after Psaki’s announcement, Trump said in a statement that the only reason Harris has finally got around to visiting is that he and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott were planning on going the following week.
The former president had said on June 15 that he and Abbott would be making an “official visit” to the southern border on June 30. Earlier on Wednesday, Politico reported that Trump would also be joined by 12 House Republicans on the trip.
Trump responds to Harris announcing border visit
— Jack Brewster (@jbruce218) June 23, 2021
"After months of ignoring the crisis at the Southern Border, it is great that we got Kamala Harris to finally go and see the tremendous destruction and death that they've created" pic.twitter.com/oP68VLRPbx
“After months of ignoring the crisis at the Southern Border, it is great that we got Kamala Harris to finally go and see the tremendous destruction and death that they’ve created – direct result of Biden ending my very tough but fair Border policies,” Trump said in his Wednesday statement.
“Harris and Biden were given the strongest Border in American history. And now, it is by far the worst in American history.”
“If Governor Abbott and I weren’t going there next week, she would have never gone!” Trump said.
Harris, who was tasked with overseeing immigration at the southern US border by President Joe Biden in March, has been heavily criticized by Republicans for not making the trip sooner.
Notably, she told NBC News’ Lester Holt earlier this month that she hadn’t visited the US-Mexico border because she was in charge of dealing with the “root causes” of Central American migration to the US, and noted that she had not “been to Europe” either. She also told migrants at a trip to Guatemala earlier this month: “Do not come.”
