Fact Check: Is Trump's claim Kamala Harris never visit the border true?

WASHINGTON, DC: During a White House briefing on the ongoing Iran negotiations, US President Donald Trump addressed the escalating conflict and shared updates on the situation. However, his remarks soon extended beyond the war, touching on broader foreign policy issues. Among them was a claim that quickly went viral. He said former Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he called a “border czar,” never visited the US-Mexico border. The statement drew widespread attention online, with many accusing Trump of spreading false information. But how accurate is this claim?

Claim: Trump says Kamala Harris never went to the border

During the briefing, Donald Trump criticized Kamala Harris’s handling of border issues, repeating a claim that has circulated widely online. “We had a Border Czar who never went to the Border. And never once called our great border patrol agents, right? Not once, Kamala. She never called the border patrol. She never said how we're doing,” Trump said, contrasting it with his own approach to border security. 

He went on to claim that he regularly checked in with officials and that border crossings have now dropped significantly. “I used to call the border patrol guys every day… We now are proud to say we have a totally sealed border. Nine months nobody is coming through… we don’t have caravans anymore,” he added. 

The remarks have since sparked debate online, with critics questioning the accuracy of his claims. An X user, @artcandee, pushed back against Trump’s claims, writing, Former VP Kamala Harris did, in fact, go to the border. 2) People have crossed the border in the past 9 months.” The user also accused Trump of making false statements, adding that his claims were misleading. “All Donald does is lie.”

Fact Check: Trump's claims about Harris are false

According to CNN, Donald Trump’s claim that Kamala Harris “never visited the border” is false. In reality, Harris visited the border twice as vice president, once in 2021 and again in 2024. This is not the first time Trump has made inaccurate statements about Harris.

During a campaign rally in North Carolina, Trump shared the same claims that Kamala Harris “was the border czar, but she never went to the border.” Both parts of this statement are false. First, Harris did visit the border as vice president, going to Texas in mid-2021.

Second, Harris was never officially named Biden’s 'border czar.' Instead, in 2021, Former President Joe Biden asked her to focus on immigration-related diplomacy with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, aiming to address the conditions that led people to migrate to the US.

A White House fact sheet from July 2021 said that since March, Harris had been leading diplomatic efforts to tackle the 'root causes' of migration from these countries.

Biden’s own statements at the time described her role as leading diplomatic efforts to address problems driving migration in the Northern Triangle countries (he also mentioned Mexico). Harris herself focused on addressing these 'root causes.' While this work is related to immigration, calling her a 'border czar' is misleading and inaccurate.