Sen. Ted Cruz used a clip from a 1975 Monty Python movie on Wednesday to mock Vice President Kamala Harris’ leadership on the border crisis, amid a record-breaking surge in illegal immigrants showing up at the southern crossing.
The GIF snippet from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” shows knights dropping their shields as they flee.
“Run away! Run away!” words on the video say.
Cruz wrote next to the clip, “On the border crisis, Kamala invokes an old leadership style…” and linked to a report from CNN about how the vice president’s staff have been pushing back on criticism of her overseeing the border situation.
Her staff, according to the report, say she is focused on the “root causes” — the conditions in Central America that are forcing people to come to the US.
They say Harris wants a portfolio of tasks that will allow her to win political victories looking toward her future, especially if she embarks on a presidential run.
On Tuesday, Biden added another issue to her agenda: overseeing the administration’s efforts on voting reform.
Harris, who has been ripped by critics for not visiting the border since her appointment in March, previewed her trip to Guatemala and Mexico next week.
“Well, it’s the first trip,” she told reporters at an unrelated swearing-in ceremony. “I’m there to listen as much as I am to share perspective” on how to reduce illegal immigration.
She said she would be talking to leaders about building support “for the folks who need help in terms of hunger and the economic development piece, the extreme weather and the impact that has had on their economy.”
“But it’s also about having very frank and honest conversations about the need to address corruption, to address crime, violence, and in particular against some of the most vulnerable populations in that country,” Harris said.
The day’s events are playing out amid the backdrop of a surge of unaccompanied minors showing up at the southern border.
Recent video showed a 5-year-old boy who had been abandoned by smugglers at the border near El Paso, Texas, sobbing as he pleaded with them not to abandon him.
As the smugglers turn to cross the Rio Grande river to Mexico, the boy, holding a teddy bear, screams out: “Where are you going? … No, no, no. Don’t leave.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the video “heartbreaking.”
“I’ve seen the video, it is heartbreaking,” she said at Wednesday’s briefing.
She went on to say that migration puts “ourselves and others at risk” and said the administration launched an effort to “build a fair and orderly immigration system.”
“But I don’t think anyone — whether a parent or not — would watch that video and not feel heartbroken by a 5-year-old, I think, screaming at the border,” she said.
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