Border Patrol union torches Harris for 'photo op' visit to southern border ahead of election: 'Problem she created'



The National Border Patrol Council torched Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris for her recent "photo op" visit to the southern border.

On Friday, Harris visited Douglas, Arizona, marking her first trip to the border since 2021. After her brief visit touring the wall, Harris gave a speech on border security, during which she took credit for increasing overtime pay for agents and vowed to curb illegal entries and drug trafficking. Harris also promised to bring back the rejected Senate bill that she claimed would have cracked down on the border crisis, but "Donald Trump tanked it."

'After years of not just ignoring the problem, but helping create it, Vice President Kamala Harris is finally headed down to the border.'

"He prefers to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem," she declared. "And the American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games and their personal political future."

As soon as Harris and President Joe Biden were sworn into office, the administration immediately killed the ongoing construction of former President Trump's border wall, which Harris has previously called a "complete waste of taxpayer money" and Trump's "vanity project."

Since then, her campaign has done a complete turnaround, claiming that a Harris administration would support placing barriers to curb illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

After Harris' speech in Douglas, the Border Patrol union released several statements, slamming the vice president for her contributions to the immigration crisis.

On social media, NBPC wrote, "VP Harris asserted in Arizona that CBP needed more resources. We have apprehended over 8 million illegal immigrants over the last 4 years and now you realize we need more help 38 days before the election."

In a separate post, the union fact-checked Harris' claim that she helped increase officer overtime pay.

"Today, VP Harris claimed that she played a role in increasing Border Patrol Agent overtime pay. This couldn't be further from the truth. As with all things border related she was no where to be found when we needed her," NBPC explained.

"Vice president Harris has ignored the border problem she created for over three years. She goes down there for 20 minutes for a photo op and decides to repeat some of the things the NPBC has said before. But again, where has she been the last 3 1/2 years?" the union questioned.

Art Del Cueto, NBPC vice president, told Fox News' Bill Melugin, "After years of not just ignoring the problem, but helping create it, Vice President Kamala Harris is finally headed down to the border. This is nothing more than for her to check the box, but what it is in reality is a slap in the face towards the men and women that put their lives on the line every day, and also a slap in the face to the American public. Where has she been?"

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Border Patrol union immediately sets the record straight after Biden falsely claims presidential endorsement



The National Border Patrol Council, which represents approximately 18,000 agents and support personnel, took to social media in the middle of Thursday evening's CNN Presidential Debate to set the record straight after President Joe Biden claimed the group endorsed his presidential run.

During the debate, Biden was asked why voters should trust him to solve the border crisis.

'None of this mess was here during the last administration.'

"We worked very hard to get a bipartisan agreement that not only changed all of that, it made sure that we were never in a situation where you had no circumstance where they could come across the border with the number of border police there are now. We significantly increased the number of asylum officers," Biden responded.

"By the way, the Border Patrol endorsed me. Endorsed my position," he claimed.

While the debate was still underway, NBPC posted on X in response to Biden's statement, "To be clear, we never have and never will endorse Biden."

Biden's comment during the debate that Border Patrol endorsed him may have been referring to the union's lukewarm support of the Senate bill introduced in February. The union referred to the legislation as "not perfect" but "far better" than nothing.

In an earlier post, the union wrote, "Biden claimed this morning that Congressional Republicans have blocked his hiring of thousands of Border Patrol Agents. In reality, Republicans have actually funded more agents in recent appropriations bills in spite of Biden—not because of him."

The Border Patrol union wished Trump "luck" in the debate and noted that it hoped he would have "enough time to point out all of the ways Biden's border policies have failed."

The union has been an outspoken critic of Biden's open border policies that have resulted in over 2.8 million illegal aliens entering the country.

In a June statement, the group noted that the number of illegal immigrants allowed into the United States under Biden is "more than the population of Chicago, our third-largest city." The union slammed the president for previously claiming that he could not use his executive power to "fix the abuse of the asylum system."

"Now, less than six months before the election, he claims he suddenly has the authority to act," the statement read. "Under his new rules, there is no cap on the number of people who can be let into the country through a port of entry on the southwest border."

"At a minimum," the union stressed, "his order will allow almost 1.5 million people — the population of San Antonio — into the country every year. We don't call that a solution!"

The Biden administration has claimed that apprehensions at the southern border have dropped 40% since the president signed the executive order. However, NBPC Vice President Art Del Cueto told Fox Business that the White House is not counting gotaways.

"They can cut the number of individuals that are being apprehended, or that they're saying are encounters, but they can't factor in the gotaways," Del Cueto explained. "You can play with the numbers and that's part of the problem."

Additionally, the number of illegal aliens being granted entry into the U.S. through the Biden administration's CBP One application are not being counted as border encounters.

"That's a different count," Del Cueto told Fox Business. "What we need to remember is, none of this mess was here during the last administration. It became a mess day one of this administration."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!