If you think the U.S.-Mexico border was a political vulnerability for Joe Biden, wait until you see what Kamala Harris supports. Harris is part of an administration that has seen about two million got-aways enter the United States illegally, as the Southern border faces heavy pressure and record migrant encounters.
It’s the perfect issue for Donald Trump and Republicans to criticize Harris and the Biden administration, especially since Harris is even more liberal on the issue than Biden. The Vice President has a fantastic immigration record if you support illegal immigration. If not, it’s terrible.
During her 2020 Democratic presidential primary campaign, Harris revealed support positions that not even Biden did regarding illegal immigrants. Notably, she backed providing free, taxpayer-funded health insurance to illegal immigrants. As a Medicare for all supporter, Harris backed the most generous single-payer healthcare proposal—and that’s the type of healthcare coverage she wants the American taxpayer to provide illegal immigrants. Biden merely wanted to let illegals purchase an unsubsidized public option plan. The government should never incentivize illegal immigration.
Harris was one of many Democrats during the primary who supported decriminalizing illegal border crossings. If you want more people crossing the border illicitly, then eliminating the criminal penalty associated with doing it is a good idea. This poses another problem. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an organization focused on removing the worst criminal illegal immigrants from this country, preemptively deports illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds back to their home countries before they strike here. These people include child rapists, murderers, and terrorists. Why should our country wait until these people strike?
Eliminating the criminal penalty for illegal border crossings also effectively means a country has an open border. Even if the penalty becomes civil instead of criminal, it becomes an open border for anyone who can pay the measly fine. This is the same Kamala Harris who compared ICE to the Ku Klux Klan, contending that the former stokes fear in Latin Americans the way the latter did to black Americans.
“Are you aware that there is a perception that ICE is administering its power in a way that is causing fear and intimidation, particularly among immigrants and specifically among immigrants coming from Mexico and Central America?” Harris said in November 2018. That’s not ICE’s purpose. The organization has little interest in people picking fruit under the table. It has far bigger priorities in a country with about 13 million illegal immigrants.
Unlike the Biden White House, which somewhat opposes sanctuary cities—not as much as Trump did—Harris likes the concept. She’s supported the idea dating back to her San Francisco days in the 2000s. The cities are great for illegal immigrants, as liberal judges often release criminal illegal immigrants back into the public to avoid possible deportation, or local correctional facilities may refuse to comply with immigration detainers issued by ICE. Or, judges may help illegal immigrant drug dealers sneak out the back door of the courthouse to avoid immigration enforcement officers.
Harris supports a pathway to citizenship for all the illegal immigrants in the United States—providing people with another reason to come here illegally. It’s a political move for Democrats, as letting millions of former illegal immigrants vote would give them an electoral advantage. A candidate serious about stopping illegal border crossings could support E-Verify, more physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, and hiring more border patrol agents and immigration attorneys. Someone from an administration that engages in catch-and-release because its border patrol agents lack the necessary resources to do their job isn’t someone who inspires confidence. There’s a reason why the National Border Patrol Council endorsed Trump in 2016 and 2020—and will undoubtedly support him again.
Embracing political correctness and government handouts will make the Southern border crisis worse. That’s what Harris wants.