When it comes to immigration, VP Harris is a true materialist.

Here are some of her remarks delivered to the media in El Paso earlier today:

“You all have heard me say many times: I strongly believe that most people don’t want to leave home, and when they do, it is because either they are fleeing from harm or because to stay means that they cannot provide for the basic necessities of their family…"

“My trip to Guatemala and Mexico was about addressing the root causes. The stories that I heard and the interactions that we had today reinforced the nature of those root causes: the lack of economic opportunity, very often violence, corruption, and food insecurity, and basic needs not being met, including fear of cartels and gang violence…”

Google’s definition of a materialist is “a person who considers material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values.”

As VP Harris tells it, over and over again, the two reasons for immigration to the United States are safety and economics. For her, it is not about freedom. In her version of the immigration story, America does not inspire the world as a shining city on a hill. Rather, people immigrate to the U.S. to fulfill their material goals, not their ideals. The passionate words of Emma Lazarus do not echo in the vice president’s statements. Kamala Harris does not recognize that millions of people from around the world wish to come to America because they are “yearning to breathe free.”

For the VP, herself a child of immigrants, immigration is all about moving from a high-crime to a low-crime neighborhood, from a marketplace where jobs are hard to come by to a marketplace where jobs are more plentiful. It’s not about a spiritual odyssey. The reasons for immigration to America, according to our vice president, are mundane, not inspirational.

If she were to truly recognize the “root causes” for mass immigration to the U.S., she would have to acknowledge that – in addition to economic opportunity – people are drawn to America by our political and social values. Democracy, the rule of law, the Bill of Rights, and social mobility all play essential roles in making America so desirable to people all across the globe. It’s unfortunate that our nation’s vice president doesn’t understand that.