Kamala Harris immigration policy reflects 'changing national mood'

Polls suggest voters trust Donald Trump more than Kamala Harris on immigration. Harris is trying to make up the difference with a hawkish platform on the topic.

Harris has "called for further tightening of asylum restrictions," said The Associated Press after the Democratic candidate visited the U.S. border with Mexico. Among her plans: "More serious criminal charges" for migrants who repeatedly cross the border illegally, as well as a new requirement that asylum claims be made only at official U.S. ports of entry. "I reject the false choice that suggests we must choose either between securing our border and creating a system that is orderly, safe and humane," she said during the border visit.

Most Democratic presidential candidates have usually framed immigration as a "matter of legalizing undocumented immigrants," Jennifer Rubin said at The Washington Post. Harris, though, treats the matter as a "law enforcement issue at the border." Border security is the first priority — after that, Rubin said, Democrats can turn to issues "ranging from temporary agricultural workers to dreamers to high-skill workers brought in under H-1B visas."

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Hawk, or 'faux border hawk?' 

At her campaign website, Harris highlights her support for the bipartisan border security bill that Trump helped kill earlier this year. The bill would have provided new funding for 1,500 new border agents, as well as funding for "more detection technology to intercept fentanyl." (The legislation would also have "given the president greater authority to shut down the border when crossings are high" and closed some asylum loopholes, said The Washington Post.) Harris said she would revive that bill — part of an approach that includes both "strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship" for migrants, her website said. 

Conservatives are skeptical. Harris is a "faux border hawk," Rich Lowry said at National Review. The Biden-Harris administration "tore up a border system that was working" and only turned back toward enforcement after realizing the resulting tide of migrants was a "political gift" for Trump. Harris can't erase that she "spoke out forcefully against immigration enforcement just a few years ago," Lowry said. As senator, she even sponsored bills to loosen enforcement. On immigration, "she wants to be something she's not."

'Shift that mirrors the far right'

There are also skeptics on the left. Harris "isn't fighting Trump on immigration policy," Anna Lekas Miller said at The Progressive. "She's echoing him." Her emphasis on border enforcement "symbolizes a significant shift that mirrors the far right" and leaves migrants and their advocates without a "meaningful alternative." The scuttled border bill that Harris favors did not include any "meaningful path to citizenship" for undocumented migrants, Miller said. Harris is "playing politics and shoving immigrants under the bus." 

Harris' tough-on-migration message on immigration reflects a "changing national mood," Sahil Kapur said at NBC News. Tougher border controls will be a priority "regardless of which party wins the 2024 elections." That may be working for Democrats: A January poll showed Trump with a 35-point lead over President Joe Biden on the issue. As of late September, that lead — now against Kamala Harris — had narrowed to 21 points.