Kamala Harris has another tense clash over when she’ll visit the US-Mexico border

Ms Harris could not answer when she will visit the US-Mexico border

Kamala Harris has come under scrutiny this week for when she intends to visit the US-Mexico Border, and the vice president had another tense exchange with a reporter on the issue.

In an interview with Univision on Thursday, Ms Harris was pressed about when she would likely visit the border during a time when the number of illegal migrants crossing into the United States has significantly increased.

"I've said I'm going to the border," Ms Harris said when asked. "And I – "

"When are you going to the border, Vice President?" Univision host Ilia Calderón interrupted the vice president to ask.

"I'm not finished," Ms Harris replied, shaking her finger at the host during the virtual interview.

"I've said I'm going to the border. And also if we are going to deal with the problems at the border, we have to deal with the problems that cause people to go to the border, to flee to the border," she said. "So my first trip as vice president of the United States was to go – in terms of a foreign trip – to Guatemala, to be on the ground there to address and to be informed of the root causes why are the people of Guatemala leaving."

When asked if Ms Harris had a date on when she might visit the border, she responded that she would keep the host "posted" on a scheduled trip.

President Joe Biden has tasked his vice president with handling the current situation at the US-Mexico border.

This week Ms Harris visited Guatemala and Mexico, making it her first foreign trip under the Biden administration. While the trip was to respond to situations leading to the increase of migrants crossing into the US, the vice president has been criticised – particularly by Republicans and conservative media commentators – for not actually visiting the border itself.

Lester Holt asked Ms Harris during a NBC News interview this week if she had intentions to visit the border.

"At some point, you know, we are going to the border," Ms Harris said. "We've been to the border. So this whole thing about the border, we've been to the border."

To this, Mr Holt responded: "You haven't been to the border."

The vice president then sparked a backlash when she responded: "And I haven't been to Europe. And I mean, I don't understand the point that you're making. I'm not discounting the importance of the border."

Republicans seized on Ms Harris' comments in their effort to attack the Biden administration on how it has handled the current migrant situation.

Upon taking office, Mr Biden rolled back several immigration policies from the Trump administration.