The White House was forced to defend Kamala Harris on Monday, insisting she was still in charge of addressing the 'root causes' of mass migration after the president of Guatemala said he had not heard from the White House since the vice president's visit in June.
She was given that role by Biden in March, tasked with liaising with El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala as the administration faced a surge in the numbers of people reaching the southern border.
But during her regular daily briefing, Psaki was asked whether the vice president remained in the role.
'She is, and I just announced a commitment that she’s announcing this afternoon,' said Psaki, referring to a $1.2 billion investment from businesses in Central American economies.
'Well, then why is it that she has not spoken to the President of Guatemala since June?' continued Peter Doocy of Fox News. 'That’s six months.'
Psaki replied: 'I know that I did see this kind of strange report from the president of Guatemala saying that he’s had no contact with the White House, which is inaccurate.'
White House Press Secretary insisted Vice President Kamala Harris was still in chare of addressing the 'root causes' of mass migration on Monday
Immigration remains one of the key challenges facing the administration in general and Harris in particular, as she manages the fallout from plunging poll numbers, hostile headlines and departing staff.
Last week, President Alejandro Giammattei of Guatemala added to her woes by claiming he had not heard from the White House in months.
'We had many conversations with your ambassador, but [between] my presidency and the White House, no,' he told Fox News.
'I spoke once to Joe Biden because I introduced myself. Then we had the visit of Vice President Harris. On matters of state and migration, we had Mr. Alejandro Mayorkas. Aside from that direct communication, no we have not had it.'
The controversy threatened to take the shine off $540 million in new commitments from the private sector for Central America.
Initiatives included a push by Nespresso to support coffee-growing in Honduras and El Salvador, a Microsoft pledge to connect millions of people to the Internet and a $100 million commitment from Mastercard to promote digital payments and e-commerce.
Harris appealed to the private sector in May for helping in supporting employment opportunities and economic growth as part of an effort to dissuade families from heading north to seek out better economic prospects.
But migrants continue to flood to the U.S. border with Mexico in record numbers with more than 1.6 million encounters with Customs and Border Protection since Joe Biden took office.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei said in an interview Wednesday (right) that he has only spoken to Harris once – when she visited Guatemala in June (pictured left)
Migrants construct a makeshift shelter along the U..-Mexico border wall on December 9 as they await transport to a U.S. Border Patrol processing center
Thousands of migrants continue to pour over the border every day. Here a caravan walk on the Puebla-Mexico highway toward the U.S. on Thursday
During Joe Biden's time in office, Customs and Border Protection has encountered more than $1.6 million migrants at
