Who is Ilia Calderon? Kamala Harris snaps at Univision anchor when pressed on border visit again
Vice President Kamala Harris engaged in a tense back and forth with Univision anchor Ilia Calderón after she was asked once again when she was planning to visit the southern border.
Calderón pressed Harris during an interview on Thursday, June 10, on how she has yet to make a trip down to the US-Mexico border to assess the so-called migrant crisis in person, especially since she was assigned by President Joe Biden to handle it in March.
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"When are you going to the border, Vice President?" Calderón asked the VP in Spanish during a TV interview. "I've said I'm going to the border," Harris told the anchor. "And I-." When Harris began speaking, she heard Calderón's slightly delayed question in English. This appeared to frustrate her, albeit momentarily.
"I'm not finished," Harris replied sternly, letting out a brief chuckle. "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. 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."
"Do you have a date for your trip to the border?" Calderón asked in a follow-up question. "I will keep you posted," Harris responded.
The vice president's frustration with relentless questions related to the border couldn't be missed, and her exchange with the Univision anchor drew several reactions on social media.
"Quite sexist-racist for Calderon to interrupt Harris like that," Washington Free Beacon reporter Chuck Ross wrote. "In fairness, I did not have @VP Kamala Harris hitting @iliacalderon with 'I'm speaking' on my bingo card," Media Research Center Latino director Jorge Bonilla shared.
"There’s that harris charm," another quipped. "Oof," National Review writer Dan McLaughlin reacted.
Quite sexist-racist for Calderon to interrupt Harris like that https://t.co/9VYI12yurI
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) June 10, 2021
Who is Ilia Calderón?
According to Latino USA, Calderón wasn't deterred from following her dreams of becoming a journalist despite facing racism since she was just a little girl in her native society in Colombia. She was raised by a mother who graduated from college when her daughter was already in high school, and this ingrained in Calderón the importance of education. Not only did she complete her higher education, but she also went on to become the anchor of a national news network in Colombia.
Calderon moved to Miami years later and first joined Telemundo before landing her Univision gig. In late 2017, she became the network's first Afro-Latina to host a national newscast in the United States.
Harris, just days before her Univision appearance, also had an awkward exchange with NBC's Lester Holt, who similarly asked her about her plans to visit the border. "At some point, you know, we are going to the border. We've been to the border," the vice president said. "So this whole, this whole, this whole thing about the border. We've been to the border. We've been to the border," she reiterated.
"You haven't been to the border," Holt interjected. "And I haven't been to Europe," Harris chuckled, rather awkwardly. "I don't understand the point that you're making," she added.