It’s easy to see why they’re downplaying her role: The border has been, and remains, one of the Biden-Harris administration’s biggest electoral liabilities. Cities and states are struggling to house an unprecedented surge in immigration, with even blue states like Massachusetts imposing new restrictions on shelter for migrants.

The blame for this ultimately lies with President Biden. Harris, though, is a senior member of the administration and deserves her share of the responsibility for its border fiasco. Even judging her just on what the vice president was said to be responsible for, however vaguely defined, she still fell short: Harris barely addressed the true “root causes” of immigration over the past three and a half years.