Psaki insists Harris still border czar after Guatemalan leader claims no contact
White House press secretary Jen Psaki claimed Monday that Vice President Kamala Harris is still the Biden administration’s point person on immigration after the president of Guatemala said in an interview last week that he has had no contact with any top US official since this summer.
President Alejandro Giammattei claimed to Fox News that he hasn’t heard from Harris since she visited Guatemala City in June as part of a rocky trip to discuss the “root causes” of the continuing immigration crisis at the US southern border.
“We had many conversations with your ambassador, but [between] my presidency and the White House, no,” Giammattei said. “I spoke once to Joe Biden because I introduced myself. Then we had the visit of Vice President Harris. On matters of state and migration, we had [Homeland Security Secretary] Mr. Alejandro Mayorkas [in July]. Aside from that direct communication, no, we have not had it.”
“Is Vice President Harris still in charge of addressing the root causes of migration from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala?” Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Psaki Monday.
“She is, and I just announced a commitment that she’s announcing this afternoon,” answered Psaki, referring to the $1.2 billion investment from international businesses to support the economies and social infrastructure of Central American nations.
“Well, then why is it that she has not spoken to the President of Guatemala since June?” Doocy followed up. “That’s six months.”
“I know that I did see this kind of strange report from the president of Guatemala saying that he’s had no contact with the White House, which is inaccurate,” the press secretary responded.
“He said, Vice President Harris, he has not spoken to her,” Doocy persisted. “And if she’s in charge, why? Why is that?”
Psaki claimed that the administration has “had a range of conversations” with Giammattei, including a meeting with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Washington last week, “and we’ll continue that high level of engagement.”
The meeting between Sullivan and Giammattei included discussion of migration, drug trafficking and economic opportunity. According to a White House readout, Harris national security adviser spoke to Giammattei’s delegation about the root causes of migration and the vice president’s Call to Action plan to boost Central American economies.
President Biden named Harris to take over the administration’s immigration portfolio in March, but the vice president was quickly criticized for not immediately visiting the border to take in the crisis firsthand.
She eventually made a perfunctory visit to the border in June, 94 days after being named the border czar.
