US VP Kamala Harris planning first trip abroad to Mexico, 'Northern Triangle'

United States Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Mexico and Guatemala on her first official trip abroad. She further revealed that she has no plans to visit the border. Harris made the announcement while speaking to reporters from the White House at the virtual roundtable she was hosting with experts on Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

I’m looking forward to traveling, hopefully, as my first trip, to the Northern Triangle — stopping in Mexico and then going to Guatemala sometime soon. 

She declined to provide a timeline for the trip but she said that she would be going to Mexico and Guatemala and it would happen sometime soon. The vice president was asked whether she plans to visit the border but she did not mention going to the border. She added that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is responsible for dealing with the increasing number of migrants. She further said that she has been given the responsibility of working on the root causes of the migration and she will focus on it. 

Biden administration has been facing a lot of criticism from leaders over the increase in migrants on the border. Biden had appointed Kamala Harris to see the situation at the border but now the lawmakers are criticising Harris about her inaction over the migrant's issue. Representative Kevin McCarthy took to his Twitter account and said that Kamala Harris was three weeks backs appointed to oversee the southwestern border. He added that neither did she travel to the border nor did she hold a press conference regarding the issue.

Meanwhile, the White House press secretary Jen Psaki at a news conference on April 12 said that migrant apprehensions at the US- Mexico border have doubled as the southwestern border continues to face the biggest migrant influx in 20 years. Nearly 10,000 troops have been deployed by Mexico, witnessing a drastic surge of migrants, including the unaccompanied children trying to cross the border. The troops deployed by Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala in bilateral agreements with the Biden administration, have increased apprehensions and return levels of migrants trying to enter the United States.

(Image Credit: AP)