During a CNN town hall on Wednesday night, Vice President Kamala Harris made waves with a blunt defense of the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S. border crisis, saying they “did the right thing” by allowing millions of illegal aliens to cross the border. The candid admission came as Harris faced sharp questioning from Anderson Cooper about the administration’s missteps on immigration policy.
Cooper didn’t pull punches, pointing out that during the administration’s first two years—when Democrats held majorities in both the House and Senate—they failed to pass meaningful immigration reform. Many wondered why, with all the political cards in their favor, they hadn’t secured a fix to the mounting crisis at the southern border.
To address the chaos, the administration eventually rolled out an executive order earlier this summer to ease the pressure. But Cooper wanted to know why the administration waited so long. “Why didn’t your administration do that in 2022, 2023?” he asked.
Harris tried to frame the situation as progress. “As of today, we have cut the flow of immigration by over half,” she said. However, her response skipped over a critical detail: much of that supposed reduction came from migrants seeking asylum through the administration’s controversial CBP One app, a tool that has been criticized for streamlining claims without thoroughly vetting applicants.
Cooper, staying on point, pressed further: “If it was that easy with that executive action, why not do it in 2022, 2023?”
Harris deflected by saying the administration had hoped Congress would deliver a more permanent solution. “We were working with Congress and hoping that actually, we could have a long-term fix to the problem instead of a short-term fix,” she said.
But Cooper didn’t let up. “You couldn’t have done both at the same time?”
Caught without a clear answer, Harris pivoted again, placing the blame squarely on Congress.
Cooper wrapped the exchange with a pointed question: “Do you wish you’d done those executive orders in 2022, 2023?” Harris doubled down on her earlier stance, insisting, “I think we did the right thing.”
The exchange left many viewers scratching their heads. Critics argue that the administration’s slow response worsened the crisis, while supporters suggest that Harris was right to emphasize the challenges of working with a divided Congress. But with asylum claims piling up and border states overwhelmed, the question remains: Was waiting on Congress worth the gamble? As Harris digs in, this border issue isn’t going away anytime soon—especially with campaign season heating up.
CNN’s Cooper presses Kamala on why she didn’t use an executive order to stop the illegal immigration crisis earlier
She claims that it was because they wanted Congress to work
He asks if she wishes they took action earlier, she says they did the right thing by not doing it pic.twitter.com/ZjOaJaW8rz
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) October 24, 2024
