As President Joe Biden’s approach to migration at the US-Mexico border confronts its most critical test yet when Title 42 expires, his No. 2, Kamala Harris, will face what’s likely to be her own perception problem.
Aides of the vice president know the expiration of the Trump-era border restriction that allowed authorities to quickly expel migrants on public health grounds will bring with it a deluge of attacks against Harris, who leads the administration’s effort to address the root cause of migration in Central America.
It’s a 2-year-old task, assigned by Biden, that’s placed Harris at the apex of political vulnerability, with Republicans’ consistently framing her as the “border czar,” who has not quelled the historic surge of migration in the Western Hemisphere.
But Harris’ staff and allies counter that the real work she and her office are doing in the Northern Triangle countries – and not the border – is making a difference.
“While Republicans are focusing on these border attacks, we are doing the work of governing,” an administration official told CNN. “Each agency is slowly and steadily making progress on implementing what we laid out we’re trying to do there.”
Though Harris has rejected GOP framing that she’s responsible for border policy, she’s struggled to change the narrative. And flare ups at the border will come almost a month after Biden and Harris launched their 2024 reelection bid, testing voters opinions on this emotionally charged issue.
“Perception is a big part of politics,” said Andrew Selee, president of the non-partisan think tank Migration Policy Institute, who met with the vice president in 2021. “It matters for the vice president what happens over the next few weeks and the next few months.”
Migration from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to the US has reached…
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