Border czar Kamala Harris has not spoken with past 2 Border Patrol chiefs

Vice president and so-called border czar Kamala Harris has not spoken with the past two U.S. Border Patrol chiefs, a new report from NewsNation says.

On Monday, current Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens confirmed to NewsNation that he has not spoken with Harris since Biden appointed him to be the new chief a year ago.

'I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come.'

That statement mirrors comments Owens' predecessor, Raul Ortiz, made in a "60 Minutes" interview back in March. "I've never had one conversation with the president — or the vice president, for that matter," Ortiz said at the time.

Ortiz served as Border Patrol chief from August 2021 until his retirement last July.

Since Biden took office, illegal border crossings have skyrocketed. In the last year of the Trump administrations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded fewer than 500,000 border encounters, but in 2021, the number more than tripled to 1.7 million.

In 2022, the number rose to 2.4 million. Another 2.5 million border encounters were recorded in 2023.

In March 2021, Biden tapped Harris to learn the "root causes" of the surges at the U.S. southern border. She was also supposed to try to stymie the waves of "irregular migrants" making their way from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

"She's the most qualified person to do it," Biden said at the time. This appointment led Republicans to refer to Harris as the "border czar."

In June 2021, a full three months after Harris was tasked with learning the "root causes" of the border crisis, she still had not visited the border. Lester Holt pressed her about the issue in an interview for NBC News.

"You haven’t been to the border," Holt stated calmly.

"And I haven’t been to Europe," Harris responded with one of her signature cackles. "And I mean, I don’t understand the point that you’re making. I’m not discounting the importance of the border."

Harris eventually visited the border about a week later after Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced a joint town hall meeting to discuss the border crisis.

Harris also hosted a joint press conference with then-Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei during which she infamously stated: "I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come."

Clever humorists turned that line into memes that quickly went viral on social media. One memorable meme juxtaposes Harris' comments with a clip of former President Donald Trump.

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