COMMENTARY: Harris tries a brazenly dishonest switcheroo on the border

In political history’s most remarkable U-turn, Vice President Kamala Harris — the Democratic presidential candidate — has converted into a tough-on-border-security advocate. She pledges to hire thousands more border agents, to defeat drug cartels and to jail gun smugglers.

A new ad 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.

Under her watch, millions of illegal aliens have crossed the border unchecked and disrupted 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 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 3 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 co-sponsored 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, which protect illegal alien criminals that otherwise would be prosecuted.

■ As a 2020 presidential candidate, Harris promised to amnesty 6 million illegal aliens through executive action, if necessary.

Harris is trying to recast herself as having evolved from 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 Gov. 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 99 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 fiscal 2024, the 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.

Harris was also 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 — murderers, child molesters and rapists.

Harris was Joe 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.

Biden is not on the ticket; he has been deposed. But Harris’ border policies are identical to those of 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.

Harris 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.

Joe Guzzardi is an analyst with the Institute for Sound Public Policy. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.