Janice R. Andrews
DALLAS, D.C. — Unexpectedly, Vice President Kamala Harris is speaking out more on immigration, a topic that Republicans and former President Donald Trump have long dominated. With her soon-to-be running partner set to make a number of trips in critical states, Harris’ team sees a tactical advantage in taking on this historically divisive issue.
An representative from Harris’s campaign emphasized her expertise as California’s Attorney General, highlighting her prosecution of international gangs and drug traffickers. “The vice president has a compelling story to tell about prosecuting transnational gangs and drug traffickers as the attorney general of a border state,” said the official. “That record will make it harder for the Trump camp’s attacks on her to stick.”
A Democratic Strategy Change
This renewed focus is a major shift for the Democratic Party, which has often shied away from the topic in favor of other areas of policy. Republicans have attacked Harris on immigration issues on a regular basis, citing what they see as the continuous crisis of migrants at the southern border.
Harris is now using her own story to refute these criticisms, though. She spoke about her own experiences dealing with border difficulties during a recent protest in Atlanta. She informed an excited audience, “In that job, I walked underground tunnels between the United States and Mexico.” “I pursued drug cartels, international gangs, and people traffickers who entered our nation illegally. I won every action I brought against them.”
The Tipping Point
The bipartisan border financing package that was crafted in the Senate was rejected by House Republicans, which marked the beginning of the Democratic pivot on immigration earlier this year. Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, denounced this action, which gave Democrats a chance to take control of the narrative. “We did not go into these negotiations thinking this was about politics,” Murphy clarified. “But after Republicans smashed it to pieces, we’d have been fools not to take the gift-wrapped political advantage.”
After this episode, Democrats decided to test the waters by using immigration as the main issue in a New York special congressional election. Tom Suozzi, the Democratic candidate, won by emphasizing immigration throughout his campaign. This achievement gave hope that Democrats might successfully break the Republican monopoly on the subject.
Harris’s Methodology and Remarks
Debate has centered on Harris’s involvement as the Biden administration struggles with immigration. Addressing the “root causes” of migration from the Northern Triangle—Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador—was the mission that Biden gave her. Although detractors sometimes fail to distinguish between direct control of border enforcement and diplomatic initiatives, this method incorporated the latter.
In contrast to the urgent border control measures that Republicans frequently highlight, Harris is focused on long-term solutions, including investments from the private sector in the area. Jodi Goodwin, an immigration lawyer in Texas, stated, “I think that the two go hand in hand,” emphasizing the significance of tackling both the present border problems and the underlying reasons.
Harris has come under fire for not taking a more active role in border management despite these attempts. There was controversy after she said in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt in 2021 that “we’ve been to the border” despite never having gone there. Later, she traveled to El Paso, Texas, to personally handle the matter.
Democratic Rebuttals to Republican Attacks
Trump and other Republicans have not wasted any time criticizing Harris’s approach to immigration. Trump accused Clinton of letting “terrorists and criminals to pour across our wide-open border” while she was in office, during a recent rally in Atlanta. These accusations are a part of a larger Republican plot to show the Biden administration’s vulnerability on border security.
However, subsequent to Biden’s tightening of asylum regulations, evidence indicates a noteworthy decline in unauthorized border crossings. The decline, according to Harris’s backers, refutes Republican assertions of a border crisis. “If you’re going to say she’s the ‘border czar,’” an adviser to Harris said, “she also owns that border crossings are at a record low.”
A Fresh Story for 2024
Harris and her team are growing more upbeat about their stance on immigration as the 2024 election draws near. Campaign staffers are reluctant to draw direct comparisons between Biden and Harris’s messaging achievements in public. However, they are more open to discussing the matter since they view it as a possible asset rather than a weakness.
It’s obvious that Democrats like Senator Murphy have a chance to change voters’ opinions on immigration. He thinks that swing voters will choose a more moderate strategy that strikes a balance between firmness and compassion over Trump’s extreme proposals, including his planned mass deportations. “We have to prove to people that we are not just compassionate,” Murphy stated, “but that we are also tough.”
Harris’s campaign’s renewed emphasis on immigration policy may be crucial as she tries to negotiate the political ramifications of this difficult topic. By changing the narrative surrounding immigration, Harris intends to increase her appeal to voters in November by utilizing her experience and recent legislative accomplishments.
