Kamala, Reimagined

In political history’s most remarkable U-turn, Vice President and the Democrat Party’s 2024 presidential candidate Kamala Harris has converted into a tough on border security advocate, pledges to hire thousands more border agents, to defeat drug cartels and to jail gun smugglers. A new ad that the Harris campaign released nationwide concludes with this line: “Fixing the border is tough. So is Kamala Harris.” The spot is so brazenly dishonest and such a shameless insult to voters’ intelligence that even the most grizzled, cynical political observers are taken aback.

Beyond the obvious that, under her watch, millions of illegal aliens have crossed the border unchecked and disrupted the communities into which they have resettled. Her home city of San Francisco, where she served as District Attorney and California, where she was the Attorney General and the senior U.S. Senator, are crime infested messes. Harris’ problem is that her congressional voting record betrays her campaign promises. She cast seven votes against bills that would have strengthened border security. And Harris’ votes on interior enforcement reflected her disdain for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency she compared to the KKK and wants to abolish. On 21 occasions, Harris voted for bills that would weaken interior enforcement including legislation to end sanctuary cities. Harris also opposed using 287 (g), the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) program to partner with state and local law enforcement agencies to identify and remove incarcerated criminal noncitizens. A sampling of her votes:

In 2017, Harris cosponsored S. 1615, the Dream Act of 2017, that would grant amnesty to about three million illegal immigrants, the so-called DREAMers.
In 2017, Harris cosponsored S. 845, the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act which prevents federal immigration agents from detaining illegal aliens in certain public places.
In 2018, Harris voted for Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) amendment to grant amnesty to 3.2 million illegal aliens, again the DREAMer population.
In 2019, Harris cosponsored S. 175, the Agricultural Worker Program Act. The legislation would have granted amnesty to approximately 3 million agricultural workers. Harris voted against an amendment offered by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) that would block federal grants to sanctuary districts. Toomey proposed to reallocate funds to jurisdictions that uphold federal law and to protect local police from lawsuits for honoring ICE detainer requests. Sanctuary cities, properly defined, protects illegal alien criminals that otherwise would be prosecuted.
As a 2020 presidential candidate, Harris promised to amnesty six million illegal aliens through Executive Action if necessary.

Harris is trying to recast herself as having evolved from her extreme immigration positions that are out of step with American voters. She has not, however, softened her amnesty advocacy. With her Vice-Presidential choice, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democrat ticket has doubled down on amnesty. In 2021, Walz wrote to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to urge that millions of illegal immigrants be put on a pathway to citizenship.

But Harris cannot escape the indisputable fact that, over several years, she has made countless statements and cast dozens of votes that oppose enforcement and support illegal immigration. With her tacit blessing, millions have entered, including ninety-nine on the terrorist watch list that the Department of Homeland Security released into the interior. A House Judiciary Committee report found that at least 27 on the terrorist watchlist who came through the southwest border and were bonded out by immigration judges. At least four other terrorists were granted asylum. Moreover, during FY 2024, border patrol has encountered tens of thousands of illegal aliens nationwide from countries that could present national security risks, including 2,134 Afghan nationals, 33,347 Chinese nationals, 541 Iranian nationals, 520 Syrian nationals, and 3,104 Uzbek nationals.

When evaluating Harris’ immigration viewpoint, voters should keep in mind two more things. First, she was one of only four Democrats who co-sponsored the Immigration Enforcement Moratorium Act, legislation that would prevent DHS from deporting the worst of the worst criminals—murders, child molesters and rapists. Second, don’t dare—Harris’ words— wish friends and neighbors Merry Christmas until Congress gives DACA recipients lawful permanent residency.

Harris was Biden’s partner in every failed policy he initiated. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre emphasized to reporters during a recent briefing how “aligned” Biden and Harris have been throughout the president’s term and how the vice president has been a “critical part” of all the president’s decision-making. Jean Pierre: “But again, they’ve been aligned, you know, they’ve been aligned for the last three and a half years. There’s not been any daylight.”

Biden is not on the ticket; he’s been deposed. But Harris’ border policies are identical to her former boss’. No one wants four more years of mass illegal immigration. In March 2021, Biden appointed Harris his border czar, or, in his words, he asked his Vice President to lead the administration’s efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras— countries that will: “need help stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border.” Harris shirked that responsibility and let illegal immigration run wild. She will try to hide from voters the devastating affects her negligence had on U.S. communities, but that goal will be a major challenge for her candidacy.