Harris in Mexico after 'a good visit' to Guatemala

Vice President Kamala Harris closes out her first foreign trip Tuesday in Mexico. She'll meet with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a key but complicated ally in the Biden administration’s efforts to curb migration at the U.S. border. (June 8)

Video Transcript

KAMALA HARRIS: I thought it was a good visit. I think, you know, we accomplished our goal of having direct conversations-- being on the ground. You know, there's obviously a lot of work to do, but there really is a lot of reason to note that there is hope in this region.

I am here because the root causes are my highest priority in terms of addressing these issues, and we need to-- and we need to deal with it, both in terms of the poverty we are seeing, the hunger that we are seeing, the effects of the hurricanes and climate-- extreme climate conditions. What we are seeing in terms of the pandemic, one of my first conversations that I had when I arrived, but even before, was about our assistance in terms of vaccines.

So I'm very clear about what our role and responsibility is. We need to address the root causes. Also the acute causes-- those that are more recent, but also the longstanding issues like corruption-- that probably, of any subject that I had discussed today with all of the group, probably the number one issue aside from vaccines and the pandemic.

The relationship with Mexico-- we have a partnership, a longstanding partnership. You know, other than Canada, we are the closest neighbors to each other. So there is that, and that is the basis of the conversation that I will have with them is with that spirit. That we have to be partners. That we are neighbors, the closest neighbors in the region.

There's the issue of what we need to do around addressing-- as neighbors and as partners-- what Mexico's role can be as it relates to this region, to Guatemala, to the surrounding countries.