Has Kamala Harris visited the border yet?
VICE President Kamala Harris has been at the center of immigration issues at the US southern border since being tapped by President Joe Biden in March. Since taking office, the Biden administration has been dealing with overcrowding at migrant facilities on the southern border as an influx of immigrants attempt to cross over to the United States. VP Harris will make her overdue visit to the southern border on Friday, June 25, nearly three months since being put in charge of the migrant issue by President Biden. President Biden backed his VP ahead of her trip to the US-Mexico border, telling reporters his second-in-command has "done a great job so far" on the issue. The reason why its important that she go down, [is] shes now set up the criteria, having spoken with the president of Mexico and Guatemala [and] visited the region, to know what we need to do, Biden told reporters as he left a White House event. Harris is scheduled to visit El Paso alongside Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. 4 Harris was put in charge of the migrant issue at the southern border in March Credit: AP  The vice president toured Guatemala and Mexico earlier this month to address the "root causes" of the crisis. Lawmakers from both parties have urged Harris to visit the region since Biden tapped her to deal with the migration crisis back in March. The White House insists Harris' role as "border czar" was specifically to address "root causes" of migration in the Northern Triangle countries - Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras - and not into the US. The vice president has faced stiff criticism from Republican lawmakers, accusing the White House of sending her to an area that has been less affected by the crisis. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said: "Vice President Harris is ignoring the real problem areas along our southern border that are not protected by the border wall and are being overrun by the federal government's ill-thought-out open border policies. "She will fail in her mission if she refuses to speak to residents of the Del Rio sector whose homes and ranches are being overrun by gangs and smugglers," he continued. 4 Harris has faced stiff criticism from Republican lawmakers over her refusal to visit the border sooner Credit: AFP  "The Vice President was named Border Czar over 90 days ago, and in that time Texans have had their homes broken into, property damaged, and guns pointed at their heads as cartels, smugglers, and human traffickers profit off the Biden Administration's reckless open-border policies." Shes going where the height of the problem isnt, Texas Sen Ted Cruz told Fox News on June 23. Kamala, you need to go to McAllen. Kamala, you need to go to the Donna tent facility, which is the tent city your administration has built that is massively over capacity, that has kids in cages. You need to look at the children in cages that you and Joe Biden put there in a way that is endangering their safety and subjecting them to abuse and sexual assault," Cruz added. On June 15, former president Donald Trump announced that he accepted an invitation to visit the nation's "decimated" southern border at the end of the month. "I have accepted the invitation of Texas Governor Greg Abbott to join him on an official visit to our Nation's decimated Southern Border on Wednesday, June 30, 2021," a statement announcing his trip said. 4 Donald Trump mocked Harris' upcoming trip, saying she only did it because he announced his visit a week prior Credit: Reuters  Most read in News PROUD AS PENCE Pence takes big swipe at Trump saying he was 'PROUD' to certify Biden's win PRINCE PANIC Harry scare as cops chase car on LAX runway just as Duke arrives to fly to UK FINAL HOURS 'Distraught' McAfee 'was alone in cell for two HOURS before he was found dead' World Exclusive CHEATING HANCOCK British minister's AFFAIR with married aide exposed after office kiss WAR AND CREEPS Biden says Covid killed more than 'IRAN war' after 'creepy whisper' gaffe WAITING FOR DISASTER Condo had been SINKING at an alarming rate before collapse killed 4  After news of Harris' upcoming border visit made headlines, Trump trolled the VP and said she is only visiting the border because he announced his own trip. "After months of ignoring the crisis at the Southern Border, it is great that we got Kamala Harris to finally go and see the tremendous destruction and death that they've created - a direct result of Biden ending my very tough but fair Border policies," he said. "Harris and Biden were given the strongest Border in American history. And now, it is by far the worst in American history. If Governor Abbott and I weren't going there next week, she would have never gone!"