Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) introduced a resolution that condemns Vice President Kamala Harris’ role as “border czar.”
The resolution states that in 2021, President Joe Biden asked Harris to “serve as the administration’s border czar in charge of: working to address the ‘root causes’’ of illegal immigration into the United States.” It took her 93 days to visit the southern border.
The resolution goes on to quote former United States Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, who said that during his two years in the position, he “never had one conversation with the president [Biden] or the vice president [Harris], for that matter. I was the Chief of the Border Patrol, I commanded 21,000 people. That’s a problem.’’
Current United States Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens similarly said Harris has not spoken with him since July 2023.
Under the Biden administration, the resolution notes, there have been “over 7.9 million illegal immigrant encounters at the United States southern border” and “roughly 2 million known gotaways who evaded the United States Border Patrol.”
In May 2024, more than 170,000 illegal immigrants were encountered at the U.S. southern border, a 185% increase from the average encounters during the month of May under the Trump administration.
The resolution goes on to assert that “President Biden’s and Border Czar Harris’s far left Democrat open border policies are to blame for this historic crisis,” adding that 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.”
In a statement accompanying the resolution, Stefanik said that Harris’ “failed leadership led to the most catastrophic open border crisis in history.”
“Biden’s open border czar Kamala Harris, and every elected Democrat is responsible for this border crisis and they must all be held accountable for their role in jeopardizing our national security and turning every community into a border community,” she said. “Millions of illegals have poured into our country because of the Biden-Harris Administration’s unconstitutional, illegal executive actions, wiping away President Donald Trump’s effective border security policies which created the most secure border in modern history.”
“Kamala Harris failed as Border czar leading to violent crimes, rapes, and murders of innocent Americans. We will hold her and Far Left Democrats accountable,” the statement added.
The number of “gotaway” illegal immigrants has surged under the Biden administration by more than 340%, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Fox News’ Bill Melugin.
Under the Trump administration, the greatest number of migrant gotaways were in FY 2019, with 151,466. During the Obama administration, the greatest number was 171,663 in FY 2013.
Between FY 2021 and FY 2023, there were more than 1.6 million gotaways.
