As the country continues to dissect the ramifications from President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race, the attention has quickly shifted toward Vice President Kamala Harris. While she has not been confirmed as the nominee for the Democratic ticket, she has obtained commitments from most of the required delegates, received key endorsements from party leaders, and has not had a rival publicly contest the nomination. It seems likely that Harris will be the new Democratic nominee for president.
This change in nominee has re-invigorated the Democratic base. Harris received $81 million in donations in the 24-hour period after the announcement—the highest single-day total for any presidential candidate. This newfound energy also opens an opportunity for the Democratic nominee to change the narrative around immigration.
Biden Moved to the Right on Immigration
For the past two years, the Biden administration has shifted significantly toward the right on its immigration policies and messaging, adopting administrative measures that severely limit the asylum process to migrants seeking humanitarian protection at the border. He also pushed for a bipartisan bill in Congress that would have, among other things, given the executive branch new statutory authorities to summarily deport migrants who entered between ports of entry without regard to their claims for asylum.
Vice President Harris’ likely nomination provides the Democratic party an opportunity to redirect the conversation. Specifically, Harris can contrast Trump’s harsh and extreme proposals of mass deportation that would close off the U.S. from the rest of the world with more sensible policies that are responsive to both our needs and values. The country could instead focus on expanding our global competitiveness, provide a path toward citizenship for long-time undocumented immigrants who are deeply rooted in our society, and re-envision our immigration system in the context of historic global displacement.
Senator Harris’ Immigration Background
As senator from California, Harris was the first senator to call for then-Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s resignation over Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, which led to the separation of more than 3,000 children from their parents. She also forcefully opposed the Trump administration’s rescission of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and pushed DHS to quickly re-implement the program when the Supreme Court overturned the program’s rescission.
She also led a bipartisan bill, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, which would have alleviated visa backlogs for both family and employment-based green cards. As a candidate for the presidency, she proposed using executive actions to expand the DACA program and to provide protections for other undocumented immigrants.
Vice President Harris’ Record on Immigration
In her current role, the vice president has focused primarily on global migration issues, not domestic immigration policy. One of her first major assignments was to oversee a diplomatic campaign to address the root causes of migration from northern Central America. At that time, nearly 41% of migrants apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border were from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The campaign aimed to increase public and private investments in the region to strengthen those countries’ economies, while addressing corruption and violence.
From the beginning, this was meant to be a long-term process. In 2021, Harris launched the “Partnership for Central America,” a public-private partnership aiming to stimulate economic growth in the region. Since taking the assignment, the project has helped obtain more than $5 billion in private investments into the region and more than $300 million in U.S. aid. In February 2023, she also helped launch “Central America Forward,” a State Department effort to combine economic development with efforts to combat corruption, reduce violence, and support marginalized communities in the region.
However, the realities regarding migration have shifted dramatically at home and abroad. At the end of 2023, more than 117 million people were displaced globally—the highest number since World War II. In December, for the first time, 54% of encounters at the southern border involved citizens of countries other than Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico. While the causes are complex, migration from northern Central America has declined sharply since the beginning of the Biden administration. However, encounters with almost all other major nationalities have increased during that period.
Practically speaking, any candidate that wins the presidency will have to face a deadlocked Congress. But, as we know, the president holds immense power to shape and execute immigration policy. Given her track record, and her background as a child of immigrants, Harris is well positioned to combat the harmful misinformation espoused about immigrants during the 2024 presidential race.
As the new presumptive Democratic candidate for president, she must remind everyday Americans about the consequences of Trump’s proposed immigration policies. She must steer us away from fearing our immigrant neighbors to seeing their talent and culture as integral to the fabric of our nation.
FILED UNDER: Biden Administration, kamala harris