Congressional Republicans have leapt to blame President Joe Biden's administration for a seasonal influx of migrants—including asylum seekers—crossing the southern border, claiming these crossings are the reflection of a weak immigration policy.
After Biden enlisted Vice President Kamala Harris to spearhead the country's immigration reform effort, Republicans lamented that she hadn't taken a trip to the southern border, with some even regularly highlighting the number of days that passed.
This week, Vice President Harris visited the border city of El Paso, Texas where she toured a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility and had discussions with its staff and detainees there, including young immigrant girls.
Harris later said of U.S. immigration policy:
"This issue cannot be reduced to a political issue. We're talking about children. We're talking about families. We're talking about suffering. Our approach has to be thoughtful and effective."
Republicans predictably weren't satisfied, especially Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.
For months, Cruz has lambasted Harris on social media for holding off on a border visit.
Kamala Harris hasn’t been to Europe, she hasn’t been to Australia but we don't have an Australian border crisis or… https://t.co/9FbiSzyNvm— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1623163811.0
On the border crisis, Kamala invokes an old leadership style.... https://t.co/Y24fcvapkl https://t.co/QUy5Jlv4W7— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1622628226.0
A sobering reminder about the seriousness of the #BidenBorderCrisis. Illegal aliens are breaking into homes and s… https://t.co/eqqDYyaR0Q— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1623696743.0
But with the Vice President's border trip underway, Cruz is moving the goalposts, now claiming in a Fox News interview that she visited the wrong part of the border.
Watch below.
OLD: Kamala Harris needs to go to the border NEW: Kamala Harris isn't going to the right part of the border https://t.co/xYIx3SDWzN— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1624468593.0
Cruz told Fox's John Roberts:
"El Paso is a lovely city. It is a beautiful place in Texas. It is not also, it also doesn't happen to be the locus of the crisis."
He went on to say Harris should've visited the Rio Grande Valley instead.
"Lemme tell you what Kamala needs to do. Kamala, you need to go to the Rio Grande Valley. Kamala, you need to go to McAllen. Kamala, you need to go to the Donna temp facility, which is the tent city your administration has built."
El Paso sees hundreds of border crossings per day, according to KFOXTV of Texas. Cruz, along with other congressional Republicans, even took a widely publicized trip to El Paso to call attention to the situation at the border.
Cruz's words didn't go unnoticed.
Ah yes, the old ‘they need to do X’ but when they do X ‘Not like that!’ https://t.co/YIslidWjSh— Laura wears a mask Fry, GCW master weaver (@Laura wears a mask Fry, GCW master weaver) 1624470385.0
Pick a card, any card...no, not that one. https://t.co/zba3pfGcDS— ~Randy Sumbitch~ (@~Randy Sumbitch~) 1624540989.0
Eyes rolling https://t.co/y86Th3wzDf— ⚖ I'm Speaking - Biden/Harris WIN!!!💜 (@⚖ I'm Speaking - Biden/Harris WIN!!!💜) 1624470723.0
These people are beyond parody. https://t.co/QYzCdWvthp— Frank Sharry (@Frank Sharry) 1624469808.0
Who could possibly have anticipated this dishonest goalpost-shifting? https://t.co/VT3V9lsTiL— TeeKay (@TeeKay) 1624468666.0
Always whining. https://t.co/IEw0K8dPsx— Wallflower (@Wallflower) 1624468950.0
Some reminded Cruz of his own ill-advised trip to Mexico—to Cancún, to be exact—as his state suffered devastating winter storms.
How far is Cancun from Texas during a winter storm power outage? https://t.co/hbSOW6czH0— Joshua Plante (@Joshua Plante) 1624541259.0
Ted needs to go to cancun, oh wait, he already did. https://t.co/DrBlpgqYIi— DeepDishDaddy (@DeepDishDaddy) 1624468714.0
@SenTedCruz HOW far is Cancun from Texas? https://t.co/Wp1DebOvcX— shell (@shell) 1624489713.0
Harris assures that improvements are being made on the situation at the border.