(Screengrab via CNN)
During a town hall on Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris found herself defending the Biden administration’s immigration policies in a heated exchange with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. The conversation arose after a Drexel University student asked about the state of the U.S. immigration system.
Harris responded, stating, “America’s immigration system is broken, and it needs to be fixed. And it’s been broken for a long time.” She also pointed the finger at former President Donald Trump, accusing him of obstructing progress by blocking a bipartisan border security bill earlier this year. “As my opponent has proven himself, he would prefer to run on the problem instead of fix the problem,” she said. The bill, according to Harris, “would’ve done a lot of good,” but was ultimately derailed.
The conversation took a sharper turn when Anderson Cooper questioned Harris about the “record border crossings” seen in 2022 and 2023, despite various executive actions taken by the Biden administration. Cooper pressed her, asking why the administration waited until 2024 to introduce executive actions that had a significant impact on reducing immigration numbers. He noted that the timing seemed suspicious, coming only weeks before the first presidential debate.
“Finally in 2024, just in June, three weeks before the first presidential debate with Joe Biden, you instituted executive actions that had a dramatic impact – really shut down people crossing over – why didn’t your administration do that in 2022, 2023?” Cooper asked pointedly.
Harris used the opportunity to highlight the administration’s recent successes, proudly stating that the “flow of immigration” had been reduced by “over half.” However, Cooper wasn’t satisfied and interrupted, asking, “But if it was that easy…”
Harris, quick to assert herself, stopped him, saying, “Hold on let me finish.” After a brief pause to let Cooper complete his question, she continued, “Here’s the thing, we have to understand that ultimately this problem is going to be fixed through congressional action. Congress has the authority and the purse – I hate to use D.C. terms – but literally they write the checks.”
She emphasized that without the cooperation of Congress, the administration can only do so much. “We have lower undocumented immigrants and illegal immigration than Trump when he left office,” Harris added, underscoring the administration’s efforts compared to the previous presidency.
Cooper, not letting the issue drop, asked Harris if she regretted not implementing the executive actions earlier in 2022 or 2023. To this, Harris responded confidently, “I think we did the right thing,” adding, “I pledge to you that I will work across the aisle to fix this long-standing problem.”
Throughout the exchange, Harris remained steadfast in her defense of the Biden administration’s approach to immigration, while acknowledging the need for long-term congressional solutions to the broken system.
