AP sources: Harris to visit US-Mexico border area on Friday

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday will make her first visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, after criticism from members of both parties for failing to go there despite her role leading the Biden administration’s response to a steep increase in migration, sources said.

Harris will visit the El Paso area, according to two sources with knowledge of her plans who were not authorized to discuss the trip before it was announced and spoke on condition of anonymity. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was expected to join Harris.

Harris is leading U.S. efforts to identify and address the root causes of immigration. On her visit to Guatemala and Mexico this month, she urged Central Americans not to try to reach the U.S. border. She tried to give people a sense of hope that would encourage them to stay home.

Plans for the trip to the border were first reported by Politico.

Alexandra Jaffe, The Associated Press