Biden appoints VP Harris as point person to address migrant surge at southern border

President Biden said Thursday that he has appointed Vice President Kamala Harris to lead his administration’s efforts to address a record surge in migrants, including unaccompanied minors, that has strained capacity at immigration facilities at the southern border in recent weeks.

"This new surge we’re dealing with now started with the last administration, but it’s our responsibility to deal with it humanely and to stop what’s happening," Biden said. "This increase has been consequential, but the vice president’s agreed – among the multiple other things I have her leading and I appreciate it – agreed to lead our diplomatic effort and work with those nations to accept the returnees and enhance migration enforcement at their borders." Biden noted that he received a similar assignment while serving as vice president in the Obama administration. The president identified several factors, including gang violence and natural disasters, that he said prompted migrants to flee their homes. The president said Harris’ experience as the former attorney general of California made her uniquely qualified to lead the administration’s efforts. But Harris’ appointment places the former presidential candidate at the center of a politically fraught debate over how best to handle the border crisis.