LETTER: The vice president botches it at the border

I find myself continually amazed at Vice President Kamala Harris’s rhetoric about “root causes” for why hordes of people are coming through our borders illegally. First the border is open. And illegals arrive en masse. Then the border is closed. The illegals arrive en masse.

Ms. Harris went to Guatemala and Mexico to determine the “root causes” for why thousands upon thousands of Central Americans (as well as others from throughout the world) make long dangerous treks to our southern border. In her own words (as quoted in the June 9 Review-Journal), Harris said in a news conference, “If you want to address the needs of a people, you must meet those people, spend time with those people, because the only way you can actually fix the problem is to understand the problem.” She spent two days in Latin America, focusing on the “root causes” of migration so that the U.S. can mitigate the problem, i.e. throw money at it.

Yet Ms. Harris continues to refuse to travel to the U.S.-Mexican border because “while it is ‘legitimate’ to be concerned about the situation there, it wouldn’t be addressed with a simple visit.” So it is legitimate to travel to Latin America in order to understand the problems and the needs of the people, but it is not legitimate to travel to our border to understand the needs of Americans who live there or of Americans throughout our country who are expected to assimilate thousands of immigrants into our cities, educational systems and medical facilities.

I don’t think the vice president can have it both ways.