After failing to do much to secure America’s southern border, Vice President Kamala Harris is headed to Europe to help defend Ukraine’s borders.
Good luck, Ukraine.
There is little reason to think Harris will be any more effective with that problem than the ongoing border crisis she effectively abandoned.
In fact, the entire Biden administration has its strategy exactly backwards.
As American troops are being deployed to Europe in a largely symbolic display of support for NATO, truly needed US resources are pulled away from the U.S. border with Mexico.
Do Americans care about Russia invading Ukraine? They would prefer not to see it happen, but it’s nowhere near the top of their priority list.
In January, when Gallup asked the open-ended question, ‘what do you think is the most important problem facing the country today?’ an astonishing 23 percent said ‘the government’ or ‘poor leadership,’ 20 percent said coronavirus or diseases, 8 percent said high cost of living or inflation, 6 percent said the economy in general.
Immigration came in at 4%, but just 4 months ago, it was 11%.
The issue may be out of the headlines – as the disinterested media moves on – but it’s not far from the minds of Americans.
Back on March 24, President Biden said Vice President Harris would be coordinating efforts on stemming the tide of migrants coming from Central America.
‘She’s the most qualified person to do it — to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that help — are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border.’
But Harris wasn’t the most qualified, and she became the face of an administration that hated the Trump policies of strict immigration enforcement and building border fencing but didn’t have any effective alternatives.
Biden’s first year on immigration and border issues, was disastrous, with millions of Central Americans interpreting the new administration’s policies as a green light to head north.
The 2021 fiscal year ended with 1.7 million border apprehensions, the most ever recorded in a single year, and the number of unaccompanied minors especially outpaced records.
The jokes and derision will be all too easy: If Harris couldn’t secure America’s borders… what made her think she could secure Ukraine’s?