Symone Sanders-Townsend, host on MSNBC and former Democratic strategist who previously served as a senior advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris, asserted on Thursday morning that Harris deserves recognition for the significant decline in crossings at the southern border in recent months.
“Look, I think tonight what you’re going to hear from the vice president. This is someone who has not worked her entire career to become president, but has worked her entire career breaking barriers and just doing the work,” began Sanders-Townsend. “And tonight, you know, she’s ran for president before, obviously, okay? You don’t run for president not ever wanting to sit in the seat, right? She’s ran for president before, did not have a successful first presidential campaign, joined the Biden-Harris ticket, and has served as vice president for the last three, almost four years. And in that time has literally been doing the work.”
She continued: “Border crossings are down because Mexico is enforcing their border. Do you know how Mexican enforces their border? Diplomacy. Do you know who was in charge of the root causes of migration and working on that diplomatic effort? The woman who will be standing on this stage tonight. There is just- you don’t get to this moment without the first three years of this administration and the vice president doing that work. And so I think she’s going to talk about herself and her values.”
Border crossings have decreased in recent months following executive actions taken by President Joe Biden earlier this year. However, this decline comes after several years of unprecedented challenges at the border, much of which occurred after Vice President Kamala Harris was designated as the administration’s lead on immigration, with a focus on addressing the root causes of migration in Central America.
According to Pew Research, the U.S. Border Patrol recorded more migrant encounters in December 2023 than in any other month in American history, surpassing a prior record also set during the Biden administration.
