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By Adeola Adeosun
Weekend Night Editor
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Vice President Kamala Harris faced some tough questions on the Biden administration's immigration policies during an interview on CBS' 60 Minutes that aired on Monday.
Correspondent Bill Whitaker pressed the Democratic presidential nominee on the Biden administration's handling of border security, particularly focusing on the timing of recent policy changes that led to a decrease in border crossings.
Whitaker challenged Harris, noting the significant increase in arrivals during the administration's first three years compared to the previous administration. "There was a historic flood of undocumented immigrants coming across the border the first three years of your administration. As a matter of fact, arrivals quadrupled from the last year of [former] President [Donald] Trump," Whitaker said.
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When asked if it was a mistake to loosen immigration policies, Harris defended the administration's approach: "It's a long-standing problem. And solutions are at hand. And from Day One, literally, we have been offering solutions."
Newsweek contacted the Harris and Trump campaigns via email for comment on Monday.
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Whitaker persisted: "Was it a mistake to kind of allow that flood to happen in the first place?" Harris responded by highlighting recent efforts: "We have cut the flow of illegal immigration by half. We have cut the flow of fentanyl by half. But we need Congress to be able to act to actually fix the problem."
The vice president emphasized the need for congressional action, citing an early proposal for immigration reform and recent bipartisan efforts in the Senate. Harris said opposition from Trump derailed progress on a border security bill.
The Republican presidential nominee was also notably absent from the 60 Minutes lineup after he reportedly backed out of the interview after previously indicating he would participate.
Trump and running mate Ohio Senator JD Vance have accused the Biden-Harris administration of illegally allowing immigrants into the country. "If Kamala Harris waves a wand, illegally, and says these people are now here legally, I'm still going to call them illegal aliens. An illegal action by Kamala Harris does not make an alien legal. That is not how this works," Vance said at a September campaign rally.
The 60 Minutes interview also comes amid recent reports from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In a recent letter to Republican Texas Representative Tony Gonzales, ICE deputy director Patrick Lechleitner reported that 425,431 convicted criminals and 222,141 people with pending criminal charges were on the agency's non-detained docket.
Gonzales called the numbers "astronomical" in remarks to Fox News, while House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, a Tennessee Republican congressman, described the contents of the letter as "shocking."
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson, however, previously told Newsweek the data in the letter was being misinterpreted: "The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this administration."
The report came after Harris was scheduled to visit the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona last month.
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