Vice President Kamala Harris has outlined her stance on immigration with a focus on creating an “earned pathway to citizenship” for migrants who have crossed the U.S. border illegally. This policy proposal, highlighted on her newly launched campaign website, emphasizes the need for comprehensive reform of the nation’s “broken immigration system,” alongside “strong border security.”
“Border Czar”: Secure the Border, Let Them Stay
Harris’ campaign website, kamalaharris.com, which went live on Sunday, more than a month into her 2024 presidential campaign, positions immigration reform as one of the key priorities. The section “Secure Our Borders and Fix Our Broken Immigration System” states that Harris will reintroduce the bipartisan border security bill and work to pass it into law. The referenced piece of legislation is S.4361, the Border Act of 2024, negotiated by Senators James Lankford (R-Okla.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). It was voted down along party lines in March.
According to the website,
As President, [Harris] will bring back the bipartisan border security bill and sign it into law. At the same time, she knows that our immigration system is broken and needs comprehensive reform that includes strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship.
The plan goes on to briefly outline Harris’ record on immigration, citing her tenure as attorney general of California, when she “went after international drug gangs, human traffickers and cartels that smuggled guns, drugs, and human beings across the U.S.-Mexico border.”
As for her record as vice president, the section notes only that Harris, “border czar” since March 2021, “supported the bipartisan border security bill, the strongest reform in decades.” The reason the bill that “would have deployed more detection technology to intercept fentanyl and other drugs and added 1,500 border security agents to protect our border” was not passed is pinned on former President Donald Trump.
The site further states that despite the downing of the bill, “[Harris] and President Biden took action on their own.” As a result, “now border crossings are at the lowest level in 4 years, their administration is seizing record amounts of fentanyl, and [they] secured funding for the most significant increase in border agents in ten years.”
Contrast to Trump
Harris contrasts her approach to immigration to that of her opponent, Donald Trump, who, she warns, “will advance his cruel immigration agenda, which includes separating children from their parents.”
The statement is a reference to the policy of “zero tolerance” for criminal entry into the U.S., which was announced in April 2018 by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Under this policy, the administration prosecuted all adults crossing the border illegally. As a result, children were separated from their parents because, under U.S. law, children could not be held in criminal detention facilities with adults.
During her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in August, Harris called for allowing the border crossers to stay in America:
I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants — and reform our broken immigration system. We can create an earned pathway to citizenship — and secure our border.
So far, Harris has failed to provide any meaningful specific details of her immigration agenda, let alone concrete solutions to the problem.
Criticism
The statements on Harris’ campaign site are highly contestable. As appears from the recently released congressional report “America Invaded,” compiled by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), the Biden-Harris open-border policies are having dire consequences. These include a record number of illegal border crossings, which have brought an influx of fentanyl, a surge in violent crime, and the growing power of cartels and transnational criminal organizations like the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang. All of this has placed a significant strain on both local and federal budgets.
Harris’ proposals were harshly criticized by Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who called providing illegals with the “earned pathway to citizenship” her “most dangerous idea”:
The most destructive part of the Kamala Harris border plan is where she says that she wants to give her 8.5+ million illegal aliens an “earned pathway to citizenship,” which means rewarding illegal aliens with amnesty and the right to vote in our next election. Promising amnesty and citizenship will create a gigantic magnet for illegal immigration that will entice people around the world to race across our borders.
Vance went on to lament that Harris allowed over 8.5 million illegal aliens into the country, “lied about it,” and now “wants to reward those illegals with citizenship.”
He also pointed out that Harris and Biden only took action “once their Border Act was rejected, and border security consistently polled as a top concern of voters,” issuing executive orders that “give the appearance that they care about illegal border crossings.”
Most recently, Harris has been blasted and ridiculed for clumsy attempts to appear “tougher” on immigration by flip-flopping on such issues as the border wall.
Trump: Mass Deportations
Harris’ immigration policy is in direct contrast to that of former President Donald Trump, who has vowed to take a much tougher stance on illegal immigration, including mass deportations.
Two top priorities listed on his campaign website are “Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion,” and “Carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.”
Speaking with The New American earlier this year, Tom Homan, Trump’s former acting director of the Immigration Enforcement Agency (ICE) warned, “If you are an illegal in America, you’d better watch your back. He reiterated Trump’s commitment to deport all illegals, starting with criminals.
On Sunday, Trump’s senior advisor, Stephen Miller, outlined a comprehensive and aggressive immigration agenda should Trump be reelected. The plan includes achieving total deportation at the border by reinstating policies like Title 42 (public health restrictions), the Safe Third Country agreement with Canada, Remain in Mexico, and Asylum Bars. It also involves terminating Harris’ expedited entry and parole programs, lifting all ICE enforcement restrictions, and restoring the terror travel ban, among other proposals.
The strong possibility of Trump’s reelection and his firm immigration stance triggered massive migrant caravans to rush to the United States via Mexico before the November elections.
The John Birch Society has an agenda to stop America’s immigration invasion — no matter who is in the White House. Click here to learn more!
