Harris’ Past Record on Illegal Immigration Resurfaces After Biden Drops Out

Vice President Kamala Harris will face increased scrutiny in the months ahead after becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee on Sunday — with conservative critics already zeroing in on past comments she has made about immigration and the border crisis.

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Harris’s most high-profile role on immigration came when she was tasked by President Biden in 2021 with leading the diplomatic outreach to tackle the “root causes” of migration in the Northern Triangle countries. It led to her being dubbed the “border czar” by Republicans, although the White House has rejected that description.

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However, with the crisis at the border still an ongoing issue, Republicans and conservatives have already resurfaced Harris’ broader stances on immigration outside of her role as vice president. The Republican National Committee, within an hour of Biden stepping aside, posted a clip of Harris talking in 2018 about considering abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“I think there’s no question that we’ve got to critically re-examine ICE and its role and the way that it is being administered and the work it is doing,” she told MSNBC. “And we need to probably think about starting from scratch.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, in a memo obtained by Fox News, pointed to those remarks, as well as a previous pledge to decriminalize border crossings. It also described her as the “border czar” and pointed also to her past support of the Biden administration’s efforts to create a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. The Biden-Harris campaign did not respond to questions about her record.

“Candidates should not be shy about aggressively tying their opponents to Kamala Harris’ extreme agenda,” the memo said.

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Others pointed to a testy exchange in the November 2018 confirmation hearing of Ronald Vitiello — who was President Trump’s nominee to lead the agency — if he was “aware of the perception” of a similarity between ICE and the Ku Klux Klan.

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During her presidential campaign, Harris had also promised to “shut down all government contracts with private prisons” for ICE enforcement.

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