The important immigration question Republicans must answer

Vice President Kamala Harris visited the border at El Paso, Texas, this week — finally! She was roundly criticized during her trip to Guatemala and Mexico earlier this month for not saying sooner whether or when she would visit the border. 

Yes, it is important that she went. But let us not lose sight of three things: 1) the border crisis did not happen because Harris hadn’t visited and won’t be fixed simply because she’s now done so; 2) her aim and broad mandate is to address the root causes of migration from the northern triangle countries, not just the effects evident at our borders; and 3) there are few more complicated or complex issues than immigration. And former President Trump’s weaponization of the immigration crisis has made its resolution more difficult to achieve.  

Let me address these one by one.

On that last note, Harris went to El Paso because it was where the draconian and inhumane Trump family separation policy began. That policy upended the country’s foundational philosophy about the strength and character that immigrants have always contributed to this country. El Paso was also the setting of a tragic slaughter, which many observers felt was spurred in part by Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Harris put in stark relief the difference between how the Biden administration aims to treat migrants and how they were treated under Trump. She also reminded us how much the Trump administration damaged the country’s immigration infrastructure, which led to serious challenges in handling the surges of migrants that cyclically happen and which started at the end of the Trump administration. 

While these reminders are important, Harris certainly has her work cut out for her. 

To my second point above, the vice president was never given the title “border czar,” and “fixing” the border was never her charge. But she and her team also no doubt knew that conservative media would ignore and even purposely blur these distinctions. And boy, that is happening at a furious pace. 

As such, it is smart for Harris to ignore her politically motivated detractors and focus on the task at hand. During her border visit, Harris acknowledged the importance of the interconnectedness of what happens at the border and what causes people to uproot themselves and their families, put themselves in harm’s way by making a treacherous journey and then turn themselves in to the authorities once they arrive at the border. 

She met with Customs and Border Protection agents, community activists, faith leaders and young migrant girls who had made the perilous journey. She talked about what has been accomplished since her visit to Central America, including all of the investments the U.S. is now making to help residents of these troubled countries stay home or apply for asylum from safe havens in their home countries. 

Harris is not new to this issue — she was a border-state attorney general and senator. And as the daughter of immigrants, she seems to understand the importance of addressing immigration in all of its complicated glory.

Which brings me to my first point from above. Immigration is not just a legal or national security issue; it’s also, and perhaps primarily, a human issue. It is an all-of-humanity issue. It is much bigger than what one vice president in one administration does or does not do at one moment in time. 

The best thing Harris and the Biden administration can do is end the Trump-era politicization and weaponization of immigration and immigrants. As Harris said during her visit, “this issue cannot be reduced to a political issue.”

So yes, it was important for the vice president to visit the border. But only Congress can affect lasting change by codifying our humanity in legislation that respects and values immigrants and the richness they bring to this country. 

The president, vice president and most Democrats are ready to do just that. Will Republicans join them? That’s always been a much more important question than when Harris would visit the border.

Maria Cardona is a longtime Democratic strategist, a principal at Dewey Square Group, a Washington-based political consulting agency, and a CNN/CNN Español political commentator. Follow her on Twitter @MariaTCardona.