Republicans Claim Kamala Harris Shifted Her Stance on Border Issues

Republicans are accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of changing her position after she expressed support for an immigration plan that includes an expansion of the U.S. southern border wall.

During last week’s Democratic National Convention, Harris indicated that she would sign a bill that would expand the border wall if elected president. This plan, which had previously stalled in the Senate earlier this year, was a collaboration between the Biden-Harris administration and congressional Republicans and represents one of the more stringent approaches to illegal immigration in recent years.

Senator James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma and one of the key architects of this plan, criticized Harris for her alleged reversal on the issue. He pointed out that the proposed legislation requires the implementation of the Trump-era border wall, emphasizing that it contains specific construction and design standards set during former President Donald Trump’s administration. Lankford’s office confirmed that the bill allocates $650 million for the wall, a sharp reduction from the $18 billion request made by Trump in 2018.

While serving as Biden’s vice president, Harris supported the expansion of the southern border wall but had previously stood against it. As a U.S. Senator from California, she referred to the wall as a “medieval vanity project” and pledged to block any funding for it. In 2019, she dismissed the border wall project outright, and in early 2020, she criticized it on social media, labeling it a “complete waste of taxpayer money.”

The Trump campaign quickly jumped on Harris’s remarks. Karoline Leavitt, the national press secretary for Trump’s campaign, accused Harris of avoiding direct interviews and instead relying on anonymous sources to discuss her stance. She highlighted that Harris had gone 37 days without any interviews, while her staff now claimed that she supported Trump’s border wall. “This is a preposterous and false claim,” Leavitt stated.

Trump senior adviser Jason Miller dismissed the idea that Harris had changed her stance, describing the situation as “total bulls—.” He insisted that Harris has consistently opposed the wall, adding that she had halted wall construction during her time as vice president.

Former President Trump has also made border security a central issue in his political narrative, heavily influencing discourse around the topic. Earlier this year, Senate Republicans, following Trump’s lead, declined to endorse the bipartisan border security bill introduced by Senators Lankford, Kyrsten Sinema, and Chris Murphy.

Trump commented on the failure of the bipartisan bill, stating, “I think we killed it. I think it’s dead! But you can never say it because bad bills always come back to life because these guys make a lot of money with bad bills.” This reflects both his ongoing emphasis on border security as a vital campaign issue and the contention surrounding immigration policy in the current political climate.

The back-and-forth regarding Harris’s position further intensifies the ongoing political battle over immigration in the United States. With both sides leveraging statements and positions to draw contrasts, the narrative surrounding immigration policy remains complex and fiercely debated.

As the political landscape continues to evolve, the implications of these statements will likely have a significant impact on upcoming elections and policy discussions. The accusations of flip-flopping highlight not only the contentious nature of immigration policy but also the strategies employed by both parties to influence public perception in the lead-up to future campaigns.

Source: USA Today