Vice President Kamala Harris says the Biden administration will do what it can to manage the surge at the southern border amid the loosened restrictions by ending Title 42.
She said it is up to Congress to put in place reforms.
Title 42 was a Trump-era public health order that restricted migrants from crossing. It was set to expire Wednesday until the Supreme Court issued a temporary halt late on Monday.
GOP attorneys general from 19 states have argued against lifting Title 42, claiming it would increase the surge of illegal immigration at the southern border.
"I think that there is so much that needs to happen to address the issue," Harris said in an interview with NPR.
"And sadly, what we have seen in particular, I am sad to say, from Republicans in Congress is an unwillingness to engage in any meaningful reform that could actually fix a lot of what we are witnessing," Harris said.
Harris claims the White House plans to boost technology to assist asylum cases more efficiently and add more agents to the southern border. The Vice President still emphasized Congress needs to lead.
"Reform of our immigration system can only happen through Congress in terms of the passage of an immigration bill that allows for a legal pathway to citizenship and a legal presence in the country," she said.
Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, and Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., have bused thousands of migrants to liberal-leaning parts of the country, including Martha’s Vineyard, New York, and Washington, D.C., right outside the vice president’s residence.
She also says Congress should act to protect abortion rights. The Georgia runoff election granted Democrats some padding for their agenda through the Senate. This frees up Harris, who has previously served as a tiebreaker in the upper chamber 26 times.
Nonetheless, Democrats still don’t have the votes in the Senate to codify abortion rights.
"The work cannot be anything other than a matter of urgency to protect and fight for these rights, for all people to put pressure on the United States Congress to do what is the right thing to do and put the protections of Roe v Wade into law to codify it," she said.
The Vice President also commented on her concerns with Big Tech and disinformation.
She deflected from answering whether she would stop using Twitter, stressing her fear of the rapid spread of disinformation.
"I fully expect and would require that leaders in that sector cooperate and work with us who are concerned about national security and concerned about upholding and protecting our democracy to do everything in their power to ensure that there is not a manipulation that is allowed or overlooked," Harris said.
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