CNN migration, Kamala Harris

Masooma Zia6min

Speaker 1

00:00

are in pain, over what we all saw in that video. And, in fact, it was in large part because of that case that together with my van colleagues Cory Booker in particular and then on the House side Karen Bass that we wrote the George Floyd, justice and policing act, and ticular, as it relates to people of color with ill. Our faces

Speaker 2

00:29

palpable, your experience, your life experience is different from every one of your predecessors, how is that bringing itself to bear, right here in the White House,

Speaker 1

00:40

life experiences, but we also have the same that we make, he and I are in almost every meeting together. Of course he is the president and he makes a final decision. Do you feel a special responsibility plot for an imagined, there would be a woman vice president or a woman. Liddy, for all of the young girls and boys seriousness of the responsibility

Speaker 2

01:04

of migration, the root causes of migrants efforts to work with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries to address the root causes of migration. How do you define success in this role.

Speaker 1

01:20

It's a great question. Well, let's first talk about what it is. You know I come at this issue from the perspective that most people don't want to leave home. They don't want to leave the grandparents, they don't want to leave the place where they grew up, where, you know, they speak the language where they know the culture, the place where they're the place what that is home, most people don't want to leave home and when they do, it's usually for one or two reasons, they're fleeing some harm, or they cannot stay and satisfy the basic necessities of life such as feeding their children and having a roof over their head. That's that, that that is part of a big part of what is going on. So I look at the issue of what's going on in the Northern Triangle from that perspective. And then my take on it is that we've got to understanding that we have to give people some sense of hope that if they stay. But help is on the way. And that brings me to then, my focus, which is, for example, I convened a group of members of our Cabinet Secretary of Agriculture Secretary of Commerce, the head of the USA ID, which is our aid organization, Tony Blinken Secretary of State was a part of it. Jake Sullivan was a part of it, and bringing together members of our cabinet, to do what for example is going to happen out of commerce, which is they're going to convene a trade mission virtually now and then the hope is in person later with Agriculture Tom Vilsack is going to increase our focus and our resources around helping the farmers in that region who have been devastated by crisis in terms of climate and drought, USAID ID, we're increasing our disaster response because again of the hurricanes. So, this is the kind of work that has to happen the kind of work that has to happen is the diplomatic work that we've been engaged in in Trump, including my calls to the President of Mexico, the president of Guatemala and and we have a plan to actually have another meeting coming up soon.

Unknown Speaker

03:32

Are you going to go there in that regard,

Speaker 1

03:33

it is yes, we're working on the plan to get there, we have to deal with COVID issues, but I can't get there soon enough, in terms of personally getting there. And then, and then we have to also look at the piece about community based organizations. So for example, this week in addition or next week in addition to meeting again with the president of Guatemala, I will be meeting the following day, with the community based organizations in Guatemala, they call them basically civil society, to figure out how we can better assist what they're doing on the ground. In a way, again, that they can give the resources to people who naturally want to stay at home and give them some sense of hope, that help is on the way, this is the work that we're doing, but it's not going to be solved overnight. It's a complex issue, but it will be worth it and I will tell you part of my approach to this, is we've got to institutionalize the work and also internationalize it, which is why for example, I'm working with Ambassador Thomas Greenfield, and we're going to be increasing the requests we're making of our allies in the United Nations, because, again, this, this is about the Western Hemisphere. We are a neighbor in the Western Hemisphere, and it is also about understanding that we have the capacity to actually get in there, if we are consistent. Part of the problem is that under the previous administration they pulled out, essentially, a lot of what had been the continuum of work, and it essentially came to a standstill, you're rebuilding it. We have to rebuild it, and I've made it very clear to our team, that this has to be a function of a priority that is an American priority, and not just a function of whoever happens to be sitting in this chair, because for example, looking at again the root causes extreme weather conditions, has had a huge impact on one of their biggest industries which is agriculture, including drought, right. And so, a residual point, not only is about the economic devastation and what we need to do to assist with economic development and relief, but it's also, they've got extreme hunger there, and food insecurity, and so what we need to do to address that because again if parents and if children cannot literally eat if they cannot have the basic essential things that everyone needs to live. Of course they're going to flee and that's what we're saying

Speaker 2

05:59

President Biden, always said that he wants you to be the last person in the room, particularly for big decisions just as he was for President Obama, he just made a really big decision, Afghanistan Yes. Were you the last person in the room.

Unknown Speaker

06:12

Yes.

Unknown Speaker

06:14

And you feel comfortable, I do.

00:0000:00