As DNC Looms, Kamala Harris Faces Attacks From Both Sides On Immigration

Kamala Harris promised to close privately run immigration detention “on day one” during her failed presidential bid in 2019, but a few weeks into her 2024 bid, it is not clear what her immigration policies would be—and calls are growing for answers.
The resurfaced video from October 2019 shows an audience member questioning Harris about her immigration policy at a town hall in Iowa, with an immediate and firm answer from the California senator.
Five years on, Harris has been questioned over her record on border security as vice president under Joe Biden, and in response she has promised to bring back the failed bipartisan border bill.
That legislation that would increase funding for ICE detention beds, border patrol agents, and immigration judges, tougher measures which appear to contradict the thrust of her campaign promise in 2019.
With the Democratic National Convention next week, such uncertainty has only fueled attacks from her critics on the right. However, from the other side, immigration reform advocates told Newsweek that the Democratic candidate should be bolder, such as by providing more legal pathways to citizenship.
How Harris can reconcile these views on an issue that consistently ranks among Americans’ biggest concerns could be one of the defining challenges of her presidential bid.
With Harris now the confirmed Democratic candidate, voters are waiting to see how she will differentiate her policies from President Joe Biden, including on immigration.
The DNC will offer a chance for more concrete policy proposals. However, after three weeks of attacks on her record with the border, some feel it’s time already to lay out the plan.
While Harris has promised to reintroduce the bipartisan border bill and be tough when it comes to enforcement, Douglas Rivlin from immigration advocacy group America’s Voice told Newsweek that Harris needs to be bolder.
“I think to be successful, she’s got to differentiate herself in more ways, and that includes talking about legal immigration and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who have been here for a long time,” Rivlin said.
Rivlin said that the GOP’s message is that it is defending the U.S. from a non-white, immigrant “other”.
“Harris and her family and her very being symbolize that non-white other that Trump is fighting against,” Rivlin added.
Harris did say at rallies over the past weekend that she wanted to shore up paths to citizenship for immigrants, which America’s Voice has welcomed.
Increasing access to legal routes would stand in contrast to Trump’s promises of mass deportations.
“People hear about mass deportation, the first time they’re sort of like ‘OK well somebody wants to do something on immigration’,” Rivlin said, adding that Democrats need to explain to voters that, as he argues, the GOP’s plan could have devastating effects on the U.S. economy.
Detention is a policy topic that has proved divisive for both critics and supporters of Harris.
“I want to know, when you become president, would you be committing to closing the immigration detention centers?” an attendee at a campaign event was heard asking Harris in 2019.
“Absolutely, on day one. On day one,” Harris responded.
Andrew Fels, an attorney at Al Otro Lado in San Diego, California, which works with migrants, told Newsweek that the policy would mean those crossing the border would stop being treated like criminals.
“Abolishing mass civil immigration detention properly realigns current federal policy with its prior practices and traditional American notions of justice and fairness,” he said. “Americans have historically been loath to inflict detention for anything short of criminal violations—failing to timely return government-owned library books seldom ends with incarceration.
“Jail is for criminals and immigration law is civil, not criminal. But under its relatively recent practice of mass civil immigration detention, the federal government annually imprisons tens of thousands of people for real or imagined civil immigration violations. Ending this practice is entirely reasonable, practical, and humane.”
GOP lawmakers, however, have lined up to slam Harris for her views five years ago, including Representative Mark Green of Tennessee.
“Vice President Kamala Harris’ prior support for catch-and-release has defined her tenure as Biden’s appointed ‘border czar.’ The Biden-Harris administration has routinely requested less detention space, refused to fill the ICE beds authorized by Congress, and even closed detention centers altogether amidst this historic crisis,” Green told Newsweek.
“Consequently, on Harris’ watch, ICE’s Non-Detained Docket has more than doubled in the past three and half years, meaning millions of inadmissible aliens have been released into our communities with inadequate vetting, with court dates years in the future and with DHS itself admitting that those not removed within a year almost never will be.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott shared the video of Harris’ response to the detention question to his social media page and said that Harris is for “catch and release”, adding that her proposal from 2019 is a “magnet” for illegal immigration.
“It means that every illegal immigrant crossing the border will be processed by border patrol and let go,” he said.
Abbott and others have repeatedly branded Harris as Biden’s “border czar.” She was entrusted with coordinating diplomatic relationships in the hopes of improving conditions in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to encourage potential migrants to stay in their home country.
Nonetheless, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the Biden-Harris administration has “failed badly” in its handling of the U.S.-Mexico border crisis.
According to ICE data, 37,000 migrants are currently in detention centers, and more than 10,000 detainees have a criminal record.
Harris delivered a scathing assessment of private prisons profiting from migrants’ incarceration during the Iowa town hall while on the campaign trail in 2019.
“This means that their business model is that people are profiting off the incarceration of other human beings,” she said.
“I, on day one, will shut them down. That is not how our taxpayer dollars should be spent.”
Harris has not outlined her specific policy on this matter as of yet. Newsweek reached out to the campaign for comment on Tuesday.
Harris’ immigration record has received a mixed response from state officials in the U.S.-Mexico border states—underlining the apparent confusion over what her plans are.
Texas state Democrats said Harris is “uniquely qualified” to beat the GOP nominee, former President Donald Trump, in a press release after she announced her intentions to run.
“With her extensive experience, dedication to public service, and proven leadership, we believe Kamala Harris is uniquely qualified to defeat Donald Trump and lead our nation forward,” the statement read.
However, on the other side of the spectrum, she has been subjected to an onslaught of attacks concerning her record on immigration by Republicans in border states. They blame Harris for what they describe as a “border invasion.”
Texas Senator Ted Cruz claimed she has “presided over the worst invasion of the United States of America in the history of our country; 11.5 million people.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported about 8.1 million encounters with migrants at the southern border since Biden’s inauguration.
The attacks haven’t only come from lawmakers. A California sheriff issued a blistering attack on Vice President Kamala Harris after his image was featured in a new political ad in which she touts border security.
Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux described the ad from the Harris campaign, which shows him and other law enforcement officials standing behind Harris during a press conference, as “deceiving” during an appearance on Fox News.
“What’s inhumane is the bloodbath that Kamala Harris has encouraged at our southern border and the brutal rapes, murders, and assaults of innocent Americans by the illegal aliens she’s allowed to pour in,” Trump Campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Newsweek.
“If Kamala Harris truly cared about humanity, she would shut down the border, reimplement President Trump’s effective immigration policies, and deport illegal criminals like those who took the lives of innocent Americans like Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, and Jocelyn Nungaray.”
Senate candidate Kari Lake, an Arizona Republican, said Americans in border states are “living in the nightmare” the Biden-Harris administration created.
Lake’s Democratic opponent, Ruben Gallego, also supports expanded hiring for CBP officers, a policy that was killed after Trump spearheaded GOP machinations to kill Biden’s security bill.
That bill—the Bipartisan Border Bill, which was voted down in Congress earlier this year—has proved another bone of contention for Harris.
Democrats have blamed Trump for its failure despite Republican backing.
“He tanked the bipartisan deal, because he thought it would help him win an election,” Harris said at a rally in Georgia. “Which goes to show: Donald Trump does not care about border security. He only cares about himself.”
The bill, which at one point was coupled with extra funding for Ukraine and Israel, was described by the American Immigration Council as “the most sweeping immigration bill of the twenty-first century.”
As it stood in early 2024, the legislation promised extra funding for the U.S. Department for Homeland Security which would allow the expansion of legal immigration routes, the hiring of more border patrol officers and a new office to manage asylum cases.
The bill would also see a Trump-era policy continued: building the border wall, specifically in high-traffic areas.
It was seen as a compromise between increasing border security, using newer technology, while also expanding visa and citizenship accessibility, such as for migrant agricultural workers.
Harris has vowed at multiple rallies to sign the bill into law, should she become the next president.
Trump, meanwhile, has promised to increase deportations and continue building the border wall.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which often challenges border policies and fights for immigrants’ rights, told Newsweek that Harris should champion immigration reforms.
“Poll after poll shows that voters want a humane and balanced approach to immigration that includes orderly and fair border management, along with a pathway to citizenship for longtime residents—and Kamala Harris has an opportunity to deliver on the will of the American people, if elected,” Maribel Hernández Rivera, director of policy and government affairs for border and immigration at the ACLU, said.
“Instead of doubling down on anti-immigrant policies that restrict people’s legal right to seek asylum, Harris should champion immigration reforms that strengthen safe and orderly ways to lawfully come to this country, and provide a pathway to citizenship to undocumented people who already contribute to our communities and economy,” Hernández Rivera added.
“Just as she did in her 2019 campaign for the presidency, Harris should put forward visionary executive actions for safeguarding millions of our immigrant neighbors and loved ones from deportation.”
Rivlin said that Harris has an opportunity to go more on the offensive than Biden ever has on the border, by laying out her own story when speaking to potential voters.
“I think she’s going to find her voice and that her voice on immigration is a little bit clearer and connected to where the American people are thank Trump,” he said. “I think some Democrats worry that if you talk too much about wanting to have rules and orderliness and border security that you’re saying that you want to have border militarization or you want to keep the immigrants that are coming out,” Rivlin continued.
“That’s not, I think, what she is saying. I think she’s talking about managing immigration rather than trying to suppress it, which has been kind of the strategy for the last 30 or 40 years.”
At some point in this campaign, Harris will have to spell out exactly which position she will take.
Do you have a story Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact [email protected]