Vice President Kamala Harris has outlined her stance on immigration, focusing on creating a “path to citizenship” for immigrants who cross the US border illegally. The policy proposals, highlighted on Harris' newly launched campaign website, stress the need for comprehensive reform of the country's “broken immigration system” and “strong border security.”
“Emperor of the Borders”: Protect the borders and keep them there
Harris' campaign website, kamalaharris.com, launched on Sunday, more than a month after her 2024 presidential bid began, lists immigration reform as one of her main priorities. In a section titled “Secure our borders and fix our broken immigration system,” she says she will reintroduce a bipartisan border security bill and work to pass it. The bill she is referring to is S. 4361, the 2024 border bill negotiated by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). The bill was rejected along partisan lines in March.
According to the website:
As President, Harris will reinstate bipartisan border security legislation and sign it into law. At the same time, she recognizes that our immigration system is broken and needs comprehensive reform, including stronger border security and a path to citizenship.
The plan also briefly outlines Harris' record on immigration policy, citing her time as California's attorney general, where she “pursued international drug cartels, human traffickers, and drug cartels who smuggle guns, drugs, and people across the U.S.-Mexico border.”
Regarding her record as vice president, the section states only that Harris, who has served as “Secretary for Border Affairs” since March 2021, “championed a bipartisan border security bill, the strongest reform in decades.” Former President Donald Trump is blamed for the failure of the bill to pass, which “would have deployed more detection technology to intercept fentanyl and other drugs and added 1,500 Border Patrol agents to secure the border.”
The site goes on to say that despite the bill's defeat, “(Harris) and President Biden took action on their own,” resulting in “border crossings now at their lowest level in four years, the administration has seized record amounts of fentanyl, and (they) have secured funding for the largest surge in Border Patrol agents in a decade.”
Differences with Trump
Ms Harris contrasted her immigration policies with those of her rival Donald Trump, warning that he would “pursue brutal immigration policies, including separating children from their parents”.
The statement was a reference to the “zero tolerance” policy against criminal entry into the United States announced by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in April 2018. Under this policy, the administration prosecuted all adults who crossed the border illegally, resulting in children being separated from their parents because U.S. law does not allow children to be held in the same criminal detention facilities as adults.
During her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in August, Harris called for people who cross the border to be allowed to stay in the US.
I believe we can live up to our proud tradition as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system, create a pathway to citizenship, and secure our border.
So far, Harris has not offered any meaningful, concrete details on immigration policy, let alone specific solutions to the issue.
Criticism
The statement on Harris' campaign website is highly controversial. As the recently released Congressional report “Invaded America” by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) shows, the Biden-Harris Administration's open border policy has had disastrous consequences. These include record numbers of illegal fentanyl crossing the border, a surge in violent crime, and the expansion of cartels and transnational crime organizations like the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang. All of this has put a huge strain on both local and federal budgets.
Ms Harris' proposal was roundly criticised by Mr Trump's running mate, Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who said giving illegal immigrants a “path to citizenship” was “a most dangerous idea”.
The most destructive part of Kamala Harris' border plan is that she says she wants to give over 8.5 million illegal immigrants a “path to citizenship.” This means rewarding illegal immigrants with amnesty and the right to vote in the next election. The promise of amnesty and citizenship would create a huge magnet for illegal immigration, driving people from all over the world to flood across our borders.
Vance also lamented that Harris allowed more than 8.5 million illegal immigrants into the country, “lied about it,” and now “want to reward those illegal immigrants with citizenship.”
He also noted that Harris and Biden only acted “after border legislation was defeated and polls consistently showed border security as voters' top concern” by issuing executive orders that “create the impression that we care about illegal border crossings.”
More recently, Harris has been criticized and ridiculed for her clumsy attempts to appear “tough” on immigration by constantly shifting her stance on issues like the border wall.
Trump: Mass deportations
Harris' immigration policies are the polar opposite of those of former President Donald Trump, who vowed to take a tougher stance against illegal immigration, including mass deportations.
His two top priorities listed on his campaign website are “Close the border and stop migrants from entering” and “Launch the largest deportation operation in American history.”
“If you're in the United States illegally, you'd better be careful,” Tom Homan, a former acting director of Immigration Enforcement under the Trump administration, warned The New American in an interview earlier this year. Homan reiterated Trump's pledge to deport all illegal aliens, starting with criminals.
On Sunday, Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to President Trump, outlined a comprehensive and aggressive immigration policy in case President Trump is re-elected. The plan includes reinstating policies such as Title 42 (public health restrictions), the Safe Third Country Agreement with Canada, the Remain in Mexico and the asylum ban, and deporting all immigrants at the border. It also includes proposals to end Harris's Expedited Entry and Parole Program, lift all ICE enforcement restrictions, and reinstate the Terrorist Travel Ban.
President Trump's likely reelection and his hardline stance on immigration have prompted a large caravan of migrants to flood into the United States through Mexico ahead of the November election.
The John Birch Society's goal is to stop the immigration invasion of America, no matter who is in the White House. Click here to learn more.
