Harris stands firm on wildly unpopular immigration plan in final pitch to voters
Vice President Kamala Harris doubled down on her support for mass amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants living in the United States.
However, Harris’ position on immigration issues appears to defy public sentiment. A poll released in September revealed that roughly 54% of Americans, including 25% of Democrats, “strongly” or “somewhat” support mass deportation of illegal immigrants.
Another poll released in May indicated that just 36% of likely U.S. voters would favor a candidate who promoted amnesty over a candidate who promoted mass deportation.
In her closing argument to voters on Tuesday evening, Harris stated, “We must acknowledge we are a nation of immigrants. And I will work with Congress to pass immigration reform, including an earned path to citizenship.”
‘Reform our broken immigration system.’
Just last week, Harris told Telemundo host Julio Vaqueiro, “We need smart, humane immigration policy in America that includes a pathway to citizenship, putting more resources at the border in terms of security, honoring America’s history as a country of immigrants, not vilifying people who are fleeing harm, but instead, creating an orderly system for them to actually be able to make their case.”
During the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute conference in September, Harris stated that she would work with the CHC to “reform our broken immigration system and protect our DREAMers.”
Harris again pledged to “create an earned pathway to citizenship.”
An October report from the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee explains how the Biden-Harris administration has already provided “quiet amnesty” to illegal aliens through the immigration court backlog.
“Instead of actually adjudicating illegal aliens’ cases based on the merits of aliens’ claims for relief — such as whether an alien has a valid and successful asylum claim — immigration judges under the Biden-Harris Administration have been tasked with rubberstamping case dismissals, case closures, and case terminations, all of which allow illegal aliens to remain in the United States without immigration consequences,” the report read.
“This sort of quiet amnesty has become a staple of the Biden-Harris Administration’s immigration courts,” it added.
The administration’s “Keeping Families Together” program could also extend mass amnesty to at least 550,000 illegal aliens in the U.S. The program, which is being challenged in court, would allow spouses and stepchildren of American citizens to request parole in place while they seek an adjustment of status.
Harris has pledged to sign the failed so-called bipartisan Senate border bill into law.
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, discussed immigration during a Tuesday appearance on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.”
Walz said, “We had a bill that added 1,500 more agents. It added more equipment, but it also added more money to DOJ [Department of Justice] to expedite these asylum claims. And then you can secure the border, which we need to do and also adhere to American values by giving pathways to citizenship.”
“We can’t forsake this idea that there are pathways to citizenship that aren’t — take too long and you can get people who are here, want to be here, contributing to this country. Give them that pathway that’s legal, and I think that’s what the vice president has said. She said she’d sign the bill immediately,” Walz continued.
Harris’ campaign website also notes her vow to establish such pathways but does not elaborate on how she plans to accomplish this goal.
However, during a Fox News interview earlier this month, Harris touted the administration’s U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 as an immigration solution.
The bill, which never made it out of committee, would have allowed “undocumented individuals to apply for temporary legal status, with the ability to apply for green cards after five years if they pass criminal and national security background checks and pay their taxes.”
“Dreamers, TPS holders, and immigrant farmworkers who meet specific requirements are eligible for green cards immediately under the legislation,” a White House statement read. “After three years, all green card holders who pass additional background checks and demonstrate knowledge of English and U.S. civics can apply to become citizens.”
While it would have required applicants to be present in the U.S. on or before January 1, 2021, it would have allowed the administration’s secretary of Homeland Security to “waive the presence requirement for those deported on or after January 20, 2017” if they were previously in the U.S. for three years.
The New York Post reported that the bill would allow the return of 1.5 million foreign nationals deported under former President Donald Trump’s administration.
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