“What’s happening in Central America, in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, is the cause. What we see at the U.S.-Mexico border is the effect,” said Harris spokeswoman Symone Sanders, arguing that El Paso offers a good representation of problems and solutions along the border.

In El Paso, the vice president will tour Custom and Border Protection’s central processing center before meeting with migrant advocates and nonprofit groups that help cope with the flow of impoverished humanity.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat, and Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, will accompany her, along with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Although they won’t visit the huge and troubled processing center at Fort Bliss, Sanders emphasized that “the administration is concerned by these reports and [the Department of Health and Human Services] has taken steps to address them. This is serious for the president and the vice president … to get to the bottom of this and ensure that the highest standards are being upheld.”

“It’s about time the vice president comes,” said Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights.

“El Paso is the right place for her to come because we know first-hand the power of the anti-immigrant rhetoric. We know here words have consequences,” he said, referring to Aug 3, 2019, when a gunman from North Texas drove to El Paso and killed 23 people at a Walmart, targeting Latinos.

“But she has to meet with families, stakeholders on the ground. She can’t just meet with high-profile people, border patrol agents, or the mayor of El Paso. If she does that, she will leave not understanding the dynamics on the ground, the people who suffer because of the policies in Washington,” Garcia said.

Tyler Moran, immigration point person on the White House Domestic Policy Council, insisted that Biden and Harris inherited an immigration system that was “gutted” by Trump.

“There weren’t enough beds for unaccompanied kids. They cut aid to Central America [and] shut down the asylum system,” she said. “The administration since day one has been hard at work to build a fairer, humane and orderly immigration system after four years of chaos and cruelty.”

Epicenter in the valley

Historically, the Rio Grande Valley has been the main entry point for migrants from Central America, and for good reason.

It’s a daunting 1,200-mile trek from Guatemala, but to El Paso it’s almost 2,000 miles.

Since Oct. 1, 17 migrants have died in the El Paso sector, where the most imposing barrier isn’t a manmade wall but the desert itself.

The White House only announced the Friday visit on Wednesday — a week after Abbott and Trump announced a joint border tour next Wednesday. Trump has taken credit for forcing Harris’ hand.

Republicans insisted that as the “border czar” she can’t possibly do her job without visiting the border, though in fact Biden’s assignment was for her to address the root causes of migration.

Either way, lawmakers in both parties have accused Harris of bypassing the valley to downplay a crisis, though no such complaints were aired when House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy led a group of fellow GOP lawmakers on a border visit in March — to El Paso.

“If she was really serious about visiting the border she would be going to each sector — especially the RGV sector, which sees more illegal crossing than any other,” tweeted Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, who has challenged her to one-on-one debates over border security. “I hope this won’t be just another photo op, winking to those pushing for border security, while laughing off this crisis in the media.”

Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat who has been urging Harris to visit the border, called the choice of El Paso “politically safe.”

“The epicenter is down there in the Lower Rio Grande,” he said on Fox News. “If you look at the numbers that are down there compared to El Paso, you’re not going to get a true picture of what’s happening.”

In the valley, officers encounter more than twice as many border crossers, particularly families, and most are from Central America — the Northern Triangle countries where Harris has focused her diplomatic efforts.

In the El Paso area, most migrants the Border Patrol encounters are from Mexico.

“Every sector has its own personality,” said El Paso Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez. “Every sector has an area of high risks and calmness.”

She spoke Wednesday at the foot of Mount Cristo Rey, at a media event meant to highlight the dangers migrants face.

The Rio Grande is a real river by the time it flows past Laredo and Del Rio towards Brownsville and the Gulf of Mexico. In El Paso it’s a system of canals, and many die each season when gates open and the water flows deeper and faster than they expected.

“Rescues are our No. 1 [mission],” Chavez said.

But the real action is in the valley, said Gonzalez, who led members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus on a two-day tour in April.

At Anzalduas Park in Mission, the congressmen could see migrants encamped across the river waiting to cross. They toured the McAllen Border Patrol Station and Donna, the port of entry and nearby facility where migrants are processed into custody.

He noted that Mayorkas has been to the valley twice, and health secretary Xavier Becerra, whose department is responsible for detained children, had been there three times.

Even though Harris is going elsewhere along the border, he echoed her aides in pushing back against allegations that Biden has somehow caused a border crisis.

“Regardless of how you label it it’s a problem that needs to be addressed,” he said. “I do believe that it was an unintended consequence after Trump left, that people just felt that there was going to be a kinder, gentler person in the White House.”