US Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about the root causes of migration from northern Central America during a meeting with US government leaders and private sector representatives.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
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MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
US Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about the root causes of migration from northern Central America during a meeting with US government leaders and private sector representatives.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
In just a few hours, Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has gone from unlikely to near certain, putting the vice president in a tricky position.
President Joe Biden has entrusted Harris with some of the most difficult parts of his job during his presidency, including voting rights, repealing reproductive rights and immigration issues.
Harris has struggled to take a stance on immigration and initially faced criticism for not visiting the southern border.
And when Republicans like Texas Governor Greg Abbott began bussing migrants to northern cities, the vice presidential mansion in Washington, D.C., became a drop-off point.
Current criticism
Now that Biden has stepped aside from the 2024 race and endorsed Harris as the Democratic nominee, this weakness is beginning to present itself as a major sticking point for both sides of the political aisle.
Republicans moved quickly to attack Harris on immigration, with Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance sarcastically saying of Harris at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, over the weekend:
“My friends, we must give her credit. She served as border commissioner during the greatest open border disaster this country has seen. Let’s get President Trump back out there, close the border, and bring common sense and safety to this country.”
Republican strategist Sarah Longwell, who describes herself as a Never Trumper, said independents and swing voters also associate Harris with the border issue.
“One of the things voters often say about her is that she didn’t do anything about the border issue.”
Candidate’s Challenges
So how will the Biden administration’s record on immigration policy affect Harris’ candidacy?
NPR’s Sergio Martinez Beltran says it depends on how the story is manipulated.
“[Harris] “I was tasked with leading a pretty broad effort to address and find solutions to the big issues that are the root causes of migration from Central America: poverty, violence, corruption,” Martinez Beltran said.
“But conservatives have tried to paint the picture that she’s in charge of border policy, leading to the inaccurate coinage of the ‘border czar,’ but that’s the role of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. He’s the one who runs all of the immigration agencies.”
Despite that perception, Martinez-Beltran explains that Harris’s changing policy positions over time, both as a former district attorney in California and now as vice president, have undermined her credibility.
“She called President Trump’s border wall a medieval vanity project, and as a senator, she grilled his immigration officials.”
But Harris has also drawn the ire of immigration advocates, as when she delivered a now-infamous 2021 speech warning migrants considering crossing the border illegally.
“Don’t come. Don’t come.”
Now, immigration activists like Judith Brown Deianis of the civil rights group Advancement Project say Harris must make significant changes to her policies to make improvements.
“Is this a humane response or a criminalization response?” Brown-Dianis asked. “That’s not the right approach. We don’t need more criminalization. We don’t need a border wall. We need to get to the root causes. We need to make sure people are protected.”
This episode was produced by Mark Rivers and Jordan Murray Smith. Edited by Courtney Dorning and Alfredo Carvajal. Executive producer is Sami Yenigan.
