When it comes to immigration, Vice President Kamala Harris and presidential candidate Kamala Harris are not the same.
In a news conference on Monday, the vice president had a message for the Guatemalan people. “I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come,” she said, according to CBS News.
“The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border,” she added.
That’s a good message amid the southern border crisis and influx of people trying to enter the country, primarily from Latin America. Let’s ignore the fact that the Biden administration’s promises of a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants and President Joe Biden’s desire to halt deportations likely contributed to this mess.
What Harris said is notable because it’s not what she ran on when she was seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in 2019 and 2020. Back then, Harris had a more liberal stance on immigration.
When Harris says that the U.S. will enforce its laws, that presumably includes how illegally crossing the border is a criminal offense. Entering the country illegally may result in a fine or a prison sentence of up to six months for first-time offenders, while repeat offenders may get two years in prison.
However, when Harris ran for president, she was in favor of decriminalizing border crossings.
Harris told The View in 2019, “Let me just be very clear: We have to have a secure border. But I am in favor of saying that we’re not going to treat people who are undocumented [and] cross the borders as criminals. That is correct.”
It wasn’t just presidential candidate Kamala Harris who felt that way either. Sen. Kamala Harris, who had presidential aspirations, felt the same way.
In 2018, Harris compared Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the KKK because, clearly, the only reason why any country would want to enforce immigration law is straight-up racial hatred. It’s not as if countries want to make sure they aren’t letting in criminals, are maintaining social cohesion, and are protecting the jobs and earnings of low-wage earners.
Someone like Harris, who wants to expand the welfare state to provide universal healthcare, tuition-free college, and subsidized childcare, should want to restrict both legal and illegal immigration to manage the costs of such big government programs. New Zealand, for example, recently decided it will cut low-wage immigration and prioritize higher earners.
If you want to encourage more illegal immigration into the country, then what Harris ran on is a great idea. If not, then her current position is better. Hopefully, the Biden administration can solve the problem at the border, but unless it gets tough on immigration quickly, that probably won’t happen.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a political reporter for New Boston Post in Massachusetts. He is also a freelance writer who has been published in USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Federalist, and a number of other outlets.
