Harris: No ‘quick fix’ on immigration issues in Northern Triangle

Vice President Kamala Harris said in a new interview that there is “not going to be a quick fix” to the influx of Central American migrants seeking to enter the U.S. from Mexico, defending her decision not to visit the U.S. southern border as she undertakes a broader diplomatic mission in the Northern Triangle region.

“There is not going to be a quick fix. We are not going to see an immediate return. But we’re going to see progress,” Harris told NBC News’ Lester Holt in an interview set to air on Tuesday night. “The real work is going to take time to manifest itself. Will it be worth it? Yes. Will it take some time? Yes.”

Harris’ remarks come amid a two-day visit to Guatemala and Mexico, her first international trip as vice president, where she is speaking with the countries’ leaders in an effort to address the root causes of the increase in migration and urging the thousands of people fleeing the region against journeying to the U.S.

“I want to be clear to folks in the region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come,” Harris said at a news conference in Guatemala City on Monday with President Alejandro Giammattei. “I believe if you come to our border, you will be turned back.”

Harris is scheduled to travel to Mexico City on Tuesday for the second leg of her trip, where she will meet with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and participate in roundtable discussions with women entrepreneurs and labor leaders. Still, she has come under criticism — mostly from Republicans — for not visiting the U.S.-Mexico border as she works to stem the sharp influx of migrants.

“We are going to the border. We have to deal with what’s happening at the border, there’s no question about that. That’s not a debatable point,” Harris told NBC News in her interview. “But we have to understand that there’s a reason people are arriving at our border and ask what is that reason and then identify the problem so we can fix it.”

Harris later added that “at some point, you know, we are going to the border. We’ve been to the border. So this whole thing about the border — we’ve been to the border. We’ve been to the border.” But after Holt noted that Harris herself had yet to visit the border since assuming office, the vice president pushed back.

“And I haven’t been to Europe,” Harris said. “And, I mean — I don’t understand the point that you’re making. I’m not discounting the importance of the border.”