Harris’s Facade of Toughness on Border Security
Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden have been under relentless fire from Republicans for their questionable immigration policies. Harris, as the Democratic presidential nominee, has tried to deflect these criticisms by adopting a new posture as a determined prosecutor committed to bolstering border security. This week, she retorted by promising an increase in border security measures if elected, and scrutinizing her Republican adversary, ex-President Donald J. Trump, for torpedoing a bipartisan border resolution in Congress.
Simultaneously, her campaign has distanced itself from some of her more left-leaning views she expressed during her pursuit of the Democratic nomination in 2019. Among these is her debatable belief that immigrants entering the U.S. without lawful permission should avoid criminal penalties. ‘In my role as attorney general of a border state, I prosecuted transnational gangs, drug cartels and human traffickers, case by case, and emerged victorious’, claimed Harris at a rally in Arizona.
Her campaign, in an attempt to highlight her shift in position, released an advertisement targeted at voters in pivotal states. Controversially, this promised more funds for border agents and a crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking. It conveniently omitted any reference to immigrants already living in the U.S. illegally. However, during her Arizona speech, Harris emphasized the need for ‘comprehensive reform’ that includes ‘an earned pathway to citizenship’.
This attempt by Harris to appear tough on border security reflects a shift in public sentiment since Trump stepped down from the presidency in 2021. More Americans, including many Democrats and Latino voters, have backed stricter immigration policies. This change coincides with Republicans escalating their rhetoric against migrants and painting a dismal picture of the immigration situation.
Unsurprisingly, the number of border crossings surged during the Biden administration. They have, however, seen a significant drop since a Biden executive order aimed at strictly enforcing border rules. Harris’s challenge now is to sway voters’ opinions which have already been swayed due to her track record.
Senior Trump campaign strategists classified immigration as one of Harris’s key vulnerabilities, labeling her the ‘border czar’, a title that greatly exaggerates the policy work assigned to her by Biden. He asked her to tackle the core reasons for migration from Latin America. Similarly, Democratic polling has raised alarms about the perception of Harris’s immigration policies.
Blueprint, a Democratic organization, recently scrutinized six potential Republican attacks on Harris, which includes labeling her as the ‘border czar’. The results showed that the attacks related to immigration were the most potent, even surpassing those concerning the economy and inflation. Other surveys suggest that voters trust Trump more than Harris concerning border issues.
In a bid to frame her record as California attorney general as a ‘border-state prosecutor’, Harris’s team strategically distanced itself from her 2020 Democratic primary position. This tactic sharply contradicts her previous stance on providing public health care to people in the U.S. illegally.
Ex-President Trump has dragged Harris through the mud over immigration, utilizing scare tactics about migrants. His damaging language paints a false image of them as a threat to American citizens. His heated words at a Montana rally stated that ‘Kamala is allowing migrant criminals to target our citizens freely’.
Some swing voters might be wary of Harris’s melodramatic rhetoric. ‘She’s a part of the Biden-Harris administration’, remarked Chris DeRose, a Republican who served in Maricopa County, Arizona. ‘There’s going to be some skepticism’. Harris and her advocates, however, have opportunistically turned Trump’s immigration record into its own campaign issue.
Trump this year managed to coax Senate Republicans into rejecting a bill supported by Biden and Harris. Notably, this bill would have mandated the sealing of the border to migrants once numbers reached certain thresholds and broadened detentions and deportations. ‘Donald Trump sabotaged the deal’, declared Harris in Arizona inciting boos from more than 15,000 supporters. She suggested Trump rejected the deal to improve his chances in an election.
Democrats in Arizona who previously won elections after toughening their stance on immigration also believed in serious immigration reform. ‘Voters wish to see practical solutions to the broken immigration system and secure borders’, explained Jen Cox, a senior Harris campaign advisor in Arizona in an interview. ‘They don’t want politics to interfere’.
In a keenly watched special election in New York this year, Democrat Tom Suozzi triumphed in a competitive House race. This outcome followed his criticism of Trump over the failed border deal and his uncommonly aggressive standpoints for his party, including calls to temporarily halt border crossings and deport migrants who attack the police.