Kamala Harris’s Record on Immigration

from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. tavernes and this is the. [Music]. daily as vice president Kamala Harris. moves into the final stretch of her. campaign one of the biggest issues for. voters and for Republicans attacking her. is the surge of migrants across the. southern border over the past four years. and her role in it.

today I talk to my colleague zolen Kano. young about her. [Music]. record it's Thursday September. [Music]. 5th so zolen we're gearing up for the. presidential debate next week and one of.

the biggest issues for voters is. immigration this is something that you. and I have talked about a lot on the. show and we've talked about how there. has been this real spike in border. crossings over the past few years record. numbers and Republicans are trying to. pin those on Harris so because we know. Republicans and Trump are going to keep. attacking her on this issue we wanted to. come to you our expert and ask you what. exact ly her record has been on.

immigration and what we know about how. she might approach that issue if she is. elected right so we do know that. Republicans at this point are. aggressively trying to attach vice. president kamla Harris to the Border. crisis that existed for much of the. Biden Administration and we also know. that a lot of Voters including. supporters of the democratic party are. trying to figure out and learn more. about the vice president on a variety of.

issues this is one of them and while her. role in the federal government was. limited when it came to this issue just. by looking at the vice president's. career dating back to early 2000s when. she was a prosecutor in California we. can start to get signs and indications. of this Leader's approach overall to the. border and. immigration okay so let's dig into that. let's go back to those early days of.

hers in California what was her job so. Harris was elected district attorney of. San Francisco in 2003 this was the start. of her career as an elected official and. even then part of her work was dedicated. to immigration I think most would. describe San Francisco as a liberal City. and when it came to immigration it was. also known as a sanctuary City so that. basically means that it was a city that. didn't want its local law enforcement to. pursue immigration enforcement right.

this leads to an interesting situation. with Harris because at the time she. actually locked heads with the Board of. Supervisors over how to carry out that. Sanctuary City policy Harris as well as. the then mayor of San Francisco Gavin. Newsome at the time supported turning. over juvenile undocumented immigrants if. they were charged with committing a. crime they would be turned over to. immigration enforcement interesting so. essentially insisting that theyd be.

turned over to federal agents who would. presumably Deport them which is a pretty. hard line for a Democrat yeah at the. time in 2009 the New York Times reported. that it resulted in roughly a 100. undocumented immigrants younger. undocumented immigrants getting turned. over to federal law enforcement and. you're exactly right for potential or. even likely deportation now this got a. lot of backlash from immigration. Advocates also from the local Board of. Supervisors at the time because those.

undocumented immigrants didn't need to. have a conviction in order to be turned. over ties so there were accusations that. actually those undocumented immigrants. were not being given their full du. process under law but at the time Harris. said that this was necessary to maintain. cooperation with federal law enforcement. and that a sanctuary City status didn't. exactly mean that you would issue sort. of blanket protection for undocumented. immigrants that had committed crimes. that being said her position and her.

approach was nuanced she also worked. within the law to also assist. undocumented immigrants so how'd she do. that tell me about that well I mean one. way is she she went after employers who. she accused of abusing undocumented. immigrants by not paying them adequate. wages she also supported issuing these. sort of specialized visas for. undocumented victims of violent crimes. and she denounced proposed Federal. legislation that would have criminalized. assisting UND ented immigrants so you.

are seeing somebody willing to pursue. enforcement but you're also seeing. somebody that's willing to work with in. the law to provide some humanitarian. relief to undocumented immigrants as. well so in other words there are lots of. sticks here she's part of law. enforcement but when it comes to her. approach to immigrants there are carrots. as well I think that's right and that's. the approach that she would try to own. when she became the top law enforcement. officer in the State the Attorney.

General of California a border state a. state with some of the most undocumented. immigrants in the country no longer just. da of sort of liberal San Francisco but. now a large part of her responsibility. was also how to approach immigration so. starting from about 2011 when she's. starting her career as attorney general. you saw Harris really start to focus on. the border and some of the criminal. gangs and cartel tell.

organizations that she would say we're. facilitating the illegal Crossings at. the border and exploiting migrants at. the time analyzing different data Trends. and crimes committed by some of these. transnational gangs and cartels at one. point she led a delegation of other. Attorneys General to Mexico to learn. more about cartels so already you see. somebody leaning into a law enforcement. approach to tackle this.

issue okay so that's her California era. then of course she's elected to the US. Senate which happens in 2016 which is. the same year that former president. Trump wins the presidency he of course. kind of redefines the issue of. immigration by coming up with policies. that are pretty far to the right how. does she respond to that in her seat as. Senator sure let's just describe this. moment that har is coming to Washington.

and the Trump Administration in those. early days they were issuing a flurry of. executive actions to change the way our. immigration system worked one of the. more known examples were these travel. bands that he issued including travel. banss against Muslim majority countries. right and I talked to some of the people. who worked with Harris when she was a. Senter at the time and they were saying. look it was almost as soon as she got in. there was a need to now resp respond to.

some of these policies utilize her. Connections in the legal world to. pro-immigration Advocates that she made. connections with back in California to. work with them on opposing some of these. policies and then also publicly she. became someone that was sort of known. particularly in Congressional. testimonies of trump Administration. officials as somebody who had almost. cross-examined some of his top. immigration advisers so this was of. course a period when the language we. heard from Democrats became pretty. limited to combating Trump in all of his.

border policies which of course brings. us to the primary campaign in 2019 and. Harris's run for. president yeah I mean look Democrats. during the Trump era were on the. defensive and in that time period so. many Democrats including Harris spent so. much time investigating criticizing. calling to question the Trump. administration's approach to immigration. that sort of grew to define the overall.

rhetoric from Democrats on immigration. essentially not being Trump and that. carried over as well to the presidential. elections when it came to the different. campaign platforms for each candidate. you know Democrats at that time in 2019. and going into the 2020 election most of. the time they spent their time basically. saying how they would roll back Trump. era policies or not do what he did but. there was a question about what they. would do and in some cases they moved.

even further to the left than we've seen. Democrats historically Go On the Border. in. Immigration I will also immediately put. in place a meaningful process for. reviewing the cases for Asylum I will. release children from cages I will get. rid of the private detention centers and. I will ensure you see Harris criticizing. a sweeping border policy known as title. 42 that essentially turned migrants away. without giving most of them the. opportunity to ask for protection in the. US you see her even at one point Express.

support for decriminalizing border. crossings let me just be very clear we. have to have a secure border but I am in. favor of saying that we're not going to. treat people who are undocumented across. the border as criminals that's correct. that you see her saying that ice might. need to be overhauled as well listen I. think there's no question that we've got. to critically reexamine ice and its role. and the way that it is being. administered and the work it is doing. and we need to probably think about. starting from scratch right she took on.

these very pro-immigration stances as a. primary candidate right but as we know. Harris's presidential campaign didn't. last too long she dropped out pretty. early on and she would later be picked. as Biden's running mate and after coming. into office President Biden took a more. Hardline Approach at the border than. Democrats and modern history have taken. and his vice president went right along. with him. [Music].

we'll be right. back okay so Harris becomes vice. president and kind of takes up the party. line of the Biden Administration on. immigration we know she had some role. related to immigration in her job as. vice president what did she actually do.

yeah so the vice president had a pretty. specific role when it comes to this. issue for one I think it's worth saying. that it wasn't like the vice president. is the one who is deciding or shaping. even the specific way to handle Asylum. Seekers at the US Mexico border she's. not dictating border policy like at the. actual us Mexico border that's the. homeland security secretary that's not.

going to be the vice president's role. what her role was was essentially. addressing the poverty and the. corruption in what's known as the. northern triangle of Central America. we're talking about Guatemala El. Salvador and Honduras and these. countries for years had made up many at. times the majority of migrants who were. crossing the border into the United. States so her team describes this as. addressing the root causes of migration. the sort of societal systemic factors of.

poverty and violence that were pushing. people to get up and take that dangerous. Journey to the United States okay so. she's tasked with this root causes. Mission how does she tackle that so. there's kind of a two-part strategy to. this role you know one is that she's. tasked with bolstering Democratic. institutions in this region so what does. that mean that's pressing leaders to. ensure a free and fair election right. making sure that those who are fairly.

elected actually make it to office which. was the case in Guatemala and then the. second is she's effectively a chief. fundraiser a huge part of her role was. essentially getting together all of. these Business Leaders that in the past. might have been hesitant to invest in. this region and using the office of the. vice presidency to encourage them to. invest in this region with the ultimate. goal of creating jobs and training. programs. that could help some of the families.

that at that time were. considering traveling north to the. United States so okay did it actually. work to bring down immigration levels. yeah the short answer is we really won't. know for years when I've talked to. Business Leaders that worked on this. initiative they told me and were cleare. eyed that this was going to take as long. as maybe a decade definitely not within. one presidential term to see its full. results and that speaks to just how.

daunting of a task this is I mean I went. on that first trip in 2021 with Harris. to Guatemala and actually before she. arrived I got there before her and went. to this rural Village in waywe Tango in. northern Guatemala where there were. plenty of families that had relatives. that had made that Trek to the United. States and I asked them was this. initiative the vice president. involvement encourage you to stay home. and they explained that their families. for Generations had traveled to the US.

and found a way to support their. families that's sort of the generational. cycle that you're going up against here. if you're kamla Harris so it was quite a. daunting task right but it also was at a. time of sort of a global migration Trend. a shift in global migration where we had. more migrants coming from different. parts of South America as far as Africa. and China meanwhile this strategy. remained focused on the Northern. triangle so there was also some. criticism that it was slow to dapped in. a way so basically Harris did a fine job.

of the task she was asked to do but it's. just that that task was never going to. be all that meaningful to the overall. problem of too many migrants trying to. cross into the United States yeah on its. own Harris's task was not going to be. the sort of primary policy response to. the soaring number the record number of. illegal crossings that we saw in the. short term but that being said Harris.

was still a part of this Administration. she was still the number two Biden's. number two when there were unaccompanied. children and teenagers Crossing in Mass. encountering squalled border detention. facilities in 2021 and Rising all the. way towards this past year where in. December of 2023 remember we were. getting 10,000 Crossings a day at one. point the border and the. administration's handling of immigration. became a top concern for voters and you. saw the Biden White House also respond.

to that pendulum shift even working with. a group of conservative Republicans in. the Senate to draft a Senate bill that. would severely restrict Asylum at the. Southwest border and we know of course. the fate of that legislation it dies. it's torpedoed by former president Trump. yep former president Trump did not want. the White House to get this election. year Victory which is how many saw it so. Trump Torpedoes it and then we see the.

White House take action on their own and. issue this executive order that is still. in place today that did many of the. things that that Senate bill would do. namely restricting Asylum restricting. the ability for migrants to claim Asylum. to get protection to stay in the United. States and look you know since that. executive order was signed we've seen. border crossings plummet I mean that. could be for a variety of reasons but.

without a doubt since President Biden. since the Biden White House issued this. executive order you've seen border. crossings plummet okay so Harris. inherits all of this once she becomes. the. nominee but since that time she really. hasn't laid out a policy plan on the. issue or given us a lot of detail about. how she's thinking about it are we to. assume that her campaign approach is. just basically what he said you know. like agree being wholesale with Biden's.

policy yeah you're totally right we have. not seen Harris at this point issue sort. of a comprehensive policy platform on. immigration but make no mistake the few. times this has come up the emphasis has. been on border security it has been on. sort of describing herself as the one. person in the election that actually has. investigated transnational criminal. organizations cartel organizations it's. been talking about her time as a. prosecutor On the Border the choice is.

simple kamla Harris supports increasing. the number of border patrol agents. Democrats even issued an advertisement. for Harris Donald Trump blocked a bill. to increase the number of border patrol. agents in which they talked about that. Senate bill that Trump. torpedoed so you know you're not seeing. her talk about it all the time but the. few times that she does talk about it. there's a similar sort of emphasis on. what we were hearing from president. Biden so zolan stepping back from.

everything you've told me Harris doesn't. really have the kind of record on this. issue that would show us any kind of. strong stance on immigration and Border. policy she just doesn't have it you know. just like a lot of things she's kind of. hard to pin down and at the end of the. day her campaign policy is basically. Biden's policy that's what you're saying. and and that's the policy Republicans of. course are attacking so I guess I'm.

wondering what do you think she would. actually do if she wins what a Harris. White House just be Biden 2.0 on. immigration it's it's tough to say for. many of the reasons you just described. Harris has never been somebody that sort. of fits easily into a bucket she's. somebody that her AIDS have said when it. comes to each policy and I think. including immigration want to lean into. the nuance and also wants to be.

pragmatic and not worry about being. described as pro-immigration or pro-. enforcemen or what have you I guess. though the question is whether or not. even that approach by KLA Harris is one. that's meeting Americans where they are. on this issue I mean make no mistake. about it this is still a primary. vulnerability for Democrats after. consecutive years of overseeing a record. level of border crossings we know this. is something that Republicans will. continue to attack her and Democrats in.

General on what we do know though is. that going into election day in a. potential Harris. Administration she would be the person. now faced with these. questions throughout the Biden era. Harris has almost been shielded in a way. by her limited role when the. administration was faced with these. tough questions about border crossings. or about what the way forward was just. for the overall immigration system. system including the legal immigration.

system KLA Harris was able to say I have. a very sort of specific Lane you know a. very specific piece of this overall. puzzle well now the entire puzzle is. going to be yours if you're president. and all of those questions about the. Border how you're deciding who gets in. and who stays out and also just what the. future is for this country when it comes. to immigration if she were to win she's. going to be the person that's going to. be making those decisions she can no. longer say that's not my job that's.

right she will no longer be able to say. that this assignment this issue is not. her. [Music]. job Zan thank you thank you appreciate. [Music]. it we'll be right back.

here's what else you should know today. on Wednesday attorney general Merrick. Garland announced that the justice. department was beginning a broad effort. to curb what it said was Russia's. attempt to influence the 2024. election Garland announced the. indictment of two Russian employees of. RT the state-owned Russian broadcaster.

for secretly paying a company in. Tennessee to spread English language. videos which support the goals of the. Russian. government he also said that American. authorities were seizing web domains. that us officials said the Kremlin uses. to spread. disinformation and a 14-year-old student. opened fire at his high school in. Suburban Atlanta on Wednesday killing. two students and two teachers before.

surrendering to school resource officers. officials said that the suspect would be. prosecuted as an adult he has been on. the radar of law enforcement officials. for more than a year in connection with. threats of a school shooting posted. [Music]. online today's episode was produced by. Nina Feldman CLA tennis sket and mo. zadii it was edited by MJ Davis Lyn with.

help from Paige cowt contains original. music by Alicia bitu and Pat mccusker. and was engineered by Chris Wood our. theme music is by Jim runberg and Ben. Lanser of wonderly special thanks to. hammed Ali. [Music]. [Applause]. aiz that's it for the daily I'm Sabrina. tavernes see you tomorrow. [Music].