DHS Sec Mayorkas dodges on why Kamala Harris didn't visit nearby Fort Bliss during border trip

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas dodged questions on "CBS This Morning" Monday as to why Vice President Kamala Harris didn't visit nearby Fort Bliss, a military installation in Texas overwhelmed with unaccompanied migrant children, on her trip last week to the southern border.

"Mr. Secretary, why not visit Fort Bliss, which is just 10 miles away [from El Paso] and has hundreds of unaccompanied migrant children, reportedly in very difficult positions?" co-anchor Tony Dokoupil asked.

Mayorkas first suggested that while he and Harris toured El Paso, Texas, Fort Bliss was the responsibility of Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra.

"The vice president and the president directed Xavier Becerra … to visit Fort Bliss, which is under his responsibility, and he's doing so today," Mayorkas said.

KAMALA HARRIS BLASTED FOR NOT VISITING ‘EPICENTER’ OF BORDER CRISIS

"It was just 10 miles away, why not include it on the vice president's trip?" Dokoupil pressed a second time, to which Mayorkas responded that he and Harris had "quite a bit to see."

"Well, you know we had quite a bit to see and we were able to meet with the CBP, the Customs and Border protection personnel, both in the central processing center and the port of entry," Mayorkas said. "The vice president was able to meet with migrant children and understand why they fled their home in desperation. She was also able to meet with community members to understand what they have been learning form the migrants who fled the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador."

"It was most instructive," he said.

The dire conditions at Fort Bliss have been widely documented. Reports have surfaced that young adults have had to be kept under 24-hour supervision out of fear they may harm themselves. Current and former workers have reported packed tents resembling "a stockyard" in conditions that have been "traumatizing" for children, according to internal emails obtained by the El Paso Times.

VP HARRIS TO VISIT BORDER, WILL AVOID WORST-HIT AREA

Lawmakers questioned Harris' priorities, wondering why she also didn't visit the hard-hit Rio Grande Valley Sector, or, as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott noted, speak with Texans "whose homes have been invaded, who've had guns brandished against them, whose property has been destroyed by gangs & cartel members coming across the border."

The Biden administration defended Harris' El Paso tour, arguing that that's where former President Donald Trump's border policies, such as the Remain-in-Mexico policy, were implemented.  

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

A record high of more than 180,000 migrant encounters were reported in May. House Republicans recently grilled Mayorkas on the lack of funding for border patrol and the construction of a border wall. The secretary replied that the administration is more focused on funding new border surveillance technology and modernizing land ports of entry.