Harris defends telling migrants 'do not come,' not visiting US-Mexico border

Vice President Kamala Harris is facing backlash from conservatives for not having visited the southern border and from progressives for telling immigrants "Do not come."

Vice President Kamala Harris is having her first face-to-face meeting with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday on her first foreign trip in office -- but a visit focused on addressing the root causes of migration risks being overshadowed by criticism against the vice president, both from Republicans and members of her own party. Harris, currently on the second half of a two-day visit to Guatemala and Mexico, has been facing backlash from conservatives for not visiting the southern border since President Joe Biden tasked her with an immigration role in March, when a record-breaking number of unaccompanied minors were crossing the southern border. Now, she is hearing new criticism from progressives for using her international spotlight in Guatemala on Monday to tell immigrants, "Do not come." The "do not come" message from Harris was first issued by Biden and his top officials who believe it’s critical to communicate the limits of the current system. Presented with some of that criticism in an interview that aired Tuesday on NBC, Harris remained cagey on why she had not yet made a trip to the southern border and falsely suggested to that she has already been -- though she has not since being tasked as vice president to address the migrant surge.