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Vice President Kamala Harris is discouraging migrants from traveling to the United States. The Vice President took a trip to Guatemala on Monday, her first official foreign visit.
Harris has been tasked to lead the administration’s effort to stem the flow of migrants at the border.
“I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States- Mexico border,” the Vice President said. ” Do not come. Do not come. The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border.”
.@VP Harris at joint press conference with the president of Guatemala: "To folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border, do not come. Do not come." pic.twitter.com/BR9ieQSE9W
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 7, 2021
Harris spoke with the incumbent President of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, about the causes of migration and the lack of economic opportunity for Guatemalans.
“There are legal methods by which migration can and should occur, but we, as one of our priorities, will discourage illegal migration,” Vice President Harris said. “And I believe if you come to our border, you will be turned back. So let’s discourage our friends, our neighbors, our family members from embarking on what is otherwise an extremely dangerous journey, wherein large part of the only people who benefit coyotes.”
The Vice President told CBS News Ed O’Keefe that she has a “very frank and very candid” conversation with Giammattei. The Guatemalan President said that the country has “no interest or desire to hide anything.”
“We can… get rid of the mindset that politicians have to be corrupt just because they’re politicians,” President Giammattei said. “It’s not necessarily so. And proof that is that we are working very hard to take cases that we detect in the executive branch to the court system for prosecution.”
Under former President Donald Trump’s public health order, all migrant families are expected to be expelled from the United States. Although many migrant families are allowed to stay, the policy is still being enforced across the southern border.
Vice President Harris said that the visit to Guatemala is a reflection of the priority that she and the president had placed on the region.
The Vice President will travel to Mexico City on Monday evening.
