EXCLUSIVE: A senior Republican in the House, whose district is adjacent to the Mexican border, has extended an invitation to Vice President Kamala Harris, the anticipated Democratic presidential nominee, to observe the situation firsthand.
“For the past four years, both prior to and following her assignment to address border issues by identifying and addressing the root causes, I have asked her to visit the border. One of the reasons is that a border crisis has been evident nearly from the outset of the Biden administration,” Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., shared with Fox News Digital during an interview.
“By the second year, when she received this responsibility from the president, she suggested that three specific countries were the primary source of the concerns, indicating that these nations were filled with people fleeing crime.”
Issa was referencing Harris being designated to address the “root causes” of significant migration from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala—an appointment that has drawn extensive criticism from Republican lawmakers as the migrant situation continues to impact various cities nationwide.
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Rep. Darrell Issa reiterates his invitation for Vice President Kamala Harris to visit the border in his district. (Getty Images)
The former chairman of the House Oversight Committee told Fox News Digital that his observations in his district indicate that the migration issue is far broader than just these three countries.
“I wanted her to witness that, even then, we were encountering a highly diverse group of immigrants, increasingly arriving from various regions, whether Romania, Russia, or different areas of Asia,” Issa mentioned.
He expressed skepticism about Harris accepting his invitation, referencing his experience with her as a junior senator from California during his tenure as director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency under the Trump administration.
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This photo depicts the border wall between Mexico and the U.S. in the San Diego Sector. (Fox News)
“During my tenure as a Trump appointee, she avoided meeting with me as a senator from her home state. [The late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.,] was willing to meet,” Issa remarked. “She has not demonstrated a willingness to engage with senators or House members, even from her own state, on state-related matters.”
Latest statistics indicate that border encounters reached their lowest monthly figure during Biden’s presidency in June, with nearly 84,000 migrants recorded at points of entry, following the president’s executive order limiting most asylum applications when illegal crossings exceed an average of 2,500 over a week.
Nevertheless, Republicans contend that this figure remains excessively high and continue to attribute incidents of crime committed by unauthorized migrants against Americans this year to both Biden and Harris.
“I oversee about 100 miles of the Mexican border, east of San Diego. From what we gather and observe through law enforcement, there is a rising occurrence of border-related crime,” Issa stated.
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Trump running mate Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, is scheduled to tour a section of the border on Thursday. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
His latest invitation to Harris comes as Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, who is former President Trump’s running mate, is set to visit part of the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona on Thursday.
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“While Republicans may not see eye to eye on every issue, we collectively agree that government is overly large, taxes are excessively high, laws should be upheld, criminals should face consequences, and our border must be secured,” Issa emphasized. “Harris’s absence is glaring. J.D.’s presence aligns with our party’s core principles, such as supporting national defense, including border protection.”
Fox News Digital sought comments from the Harris campaign but did not receive a response before publication.
