Kamala Harris Defends Handling of Immigration: Migrant Surges Are ‘Not Going to Be Solved Overnight’

Vice President Kamala Harris said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the ongoing surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border was “not going to be solved overnight.”

Harris said, “I come at this issue from the perspective that most people don’t want to leave home. They don’t want to leave the grandparents. They don’t want to leave the place where they grew up, when, you know, where they speak the language, where they know the culture, the place that is home. Most people don’t want to leave home, and when they do, it’s usually for one of two reasons. They’re fleeing some harm, or they cannot stay and satisfy the basic necessities of life, such as feeding their children and having a roof over their head. That is a big part of what is going on. So I look at the issue of what’s going on in the Northern Triangle from that perspective. Then my take on it is that we’ve got to understanding that, we have to give people some sense of hope that if they stay that help is on the way.”

She continued, “The kind of work that has to happen is the diplomatic work that we have been engaged in, including my calls to the president of Mexico, the president of Guatemala, and we have a plan to actually have another meeting coming up soon.”

Anchor Dana Bash said, “Are you going to go there?”

Harris said, “Yes, we’re working on the plan to get there. We have to deal with COVID issues, but I can’t get there soon enough in terms of personally getting there.”

She added, “This is the work that we’re doing, but it’s not going to be solved overnight. It’s a complex issue. If this were easy, it would have been handled years ago.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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