Vice President Kamala Harris was pressed by CBS News’ Bill Whitaker during a tense exchange on Monday’s special election episode of “60 Minutes” on whether it was a “mistake” for the Biden administration to soften its border policies.

“You recently visited the southern border and welcomed President Biden’s recent crackdown on asylum seekers, and that crackdown almost immediately led to a dramatic drop in the number of border crossings,” Whitaker said. “If that is the right answer now, why hasn’t your government taken these steps in 2021?”

“The first bill we proposed to Congress was to fix our broken immigration system, knowing that to actually fix it, we need Congress to act. He wasn’t apprehended,” Harris replied. “Fast forward to a moment when a bipartisan group of members of the U.S. Senate, including one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate, came together and drafted a border security bill.

“Well, guess what happened? Donald Trump has learned that this bill is underway and ready to be passed, and he wants to address a problem rather than solve a problem. So he said to his friends in Congress, ‘Repeat the bill, Don!’ Don’t let it continue.’”

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Vice President Kamala Harris was grilled in an interview on “60 Minutes” about why the Biden administration allowed a “surge” of migrants from the southern border. (Screenshot/CBS News)

“I have been watching the border for years, so I know this is not a problem that started with your administration,” Whitaker said. “But the first three years of your administration saw a historic surge of undocumented immigrants crossing the border. In fact, arrivals have quadrupled compared to President Trump’s last year.”

“Was it a mistake to loosen immigration policy as much as you did?” Whitaker then asked.

“It’s a long-standing problem and there are solutions, and from day one we’ve literally offered solutions,” Harris responded.

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Vice President Kamala Harris has been criticized for suddenly taking a tough border stance after record-breaking border crossings under the Biden administration. (Rebecca Noble/AFP via Getty Images)

“What I was asking was, was it a mistake to allow this flooding to happen in the first place?” urged the veteran CBS News journalist.

“I think the policies that we’ve proposed are about fixing a problem, not promoting a problem, okay,” Harris replied.

“But the numbers have quadrupled under your watch,” Whitaker interjected.

“And today’s numbers have resulted in us reducing the flow of illegal immigration by half,” Harris continued as Whitaker tried to ask the question a third time. “We’ve cut the flow of fentanyl in half, but we need Congress to act to actually solve the problem.”

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CBS News veteran correspondent Bill Whitaker repeatedly asked Harris whether it was a “mistake” that her administration loosened border policies early in the Biden presidency. (Screenshot/CBS News)

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