Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

It Only Took 20 Seconds For Immigrant Caller To Unravel Charlamagne’s Defense Of Harris’ Role In Border Crisis

Charlamagne Tha God on CNN. [Screenshot/CNN/"The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer"]

A black immigrant caller on Wednesday quickly dismantled radio host Charlamagne Tha God’s defense of Vice President Kamala Harris’ handling of the border crisis.

Harris is campaigning on solving the border crisis, but since the beginning of her administration with President Joe Biden, over 7 million migrants have attempted to cross the U.S. southern border, according to data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The caller, Al from Queens, New York, argued on “The Breakfast Club” that Harris bears significant responsibility for the surge, while Charlamagne contended that the crisis is driven by factors beyond the vice president’s policies.

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“Let me start off by saying I love you guys, man. I listen to you guys every morning. And I’m also a black man, I’m also an immigrant. But there are certain things that you guys are saying that Kamala wasn’t supporting or she wasn’t answering these questions, man,” Al said. “I watched the same debate. When they spoke about immigrants, she’s half the reason that all these immigrants are in the state of New York or any state for that.”

“Listen, I don’t know why we put the blame on one person as if the border hasn’t been an issue for years under every administration. That’s why they were able to create a bipartisan bill that [former president] Donald Trump didn’t want to push through, because he knew it would give the Democrats a win,” Charlamagne responded. “So I don’t understand why we act like one person caused the border to be a problem.”

The bipartisan border bill would have appropriated over $700 million to hire additional U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and U.S. Border Patrol agents. However, it included a provision that would have allowed the border to remain open if under 5,000 migrants enter per day.

“But here’s the situation: even if he didn’t push the bill, giving more border patrol agents is not helping the situation that we are still allowing these people to come in,” Al said. “You can get all the border patrols you want, but if the administration is allowing these immigrants to come in, giving them free flights to go anywhere across America, Border Patrol can’t do anything.”

Biden appointed Harris in early 2021 to spearhead the administration’s efforts to tackle the border crisis, with particular directions to address the root causes of migration from Central America. Over 50% of voters think Trump would handle immigration better than Harris, according to a Sunday New York Times/Siena College.