WASHINGTON — Suddenly, Kamala Harris is talking about the border — and liking it.
As she prepares to attack swing states this week along with her soon-to-be-announced running mate, Harris’ campaign is banking on an issue that until recently Democrats had ceded to Republicans and Donald Trump: immigration.
“The vice president has a compelling story to tell about prosecuting transnational gangs and drug traffickers as attorney general of a border state,” said a campaign official. “This history will make it more difficult for the Trump camp’s attacks against her to persist.”
It’s a remarkable turnaround for a party that until this year had largely avoided the issue — and while Republicans have tried to make it a vulnerability for Harris, arguing that she is responsible for the continued flow of migrants at the southern border.
But in front of an enthusiastic crowd in Atlanta last week, Harris was all smiles as she seemed to enjoy praising her authenticity on the border as California’s attorney general.
“In this job, I walked in underground tunnels between the United States and Mexico,” she said. “I went after transnational gangs, drug cartels and human traffickers who entered our country illegally. I sued them case after case and won.”
The turning point
For Democrats, the shift in messaging began earlier this year, when Trump urged House Republicans to kill a bipartisan border funding bill negotiated in the Senate. At the time, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he preferred different legislation introduced in the House and argued that the Senate bill did not go far enough.
One of those negotiators, Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, was furious. It wasn’t just that Republicans failed on the Senate bill; it was that they were so blatant about it.
“We didn’t go into these negotiations thinking it was about politics,” Murphy said in an interview. “But after Republicans destroyed it, we would be foolish not to take advantage of the gift-wrapped political advantage.”
Murphy said Democrats immediately conducted research on the issue and days later made it the focus of a special congressional election in New York. Democrat Tom Suozzi made immigration one of his main arguments in the final days of the campaign – and won.
“They were abandoning a very good border compromise because Trump told them to,” Murphy said in an interview. “It was the Republicans’ transparency that turned this into a political trap.”
This victory in New York signaled to Democrats that they may be able to reverse the immigration script. Still, although President Joe Biden has tried to intensify his attacks on Trump over immigration — and issued executive action in July that tightened border restrictions — polls have consistently shown that he has failed to gain much traction.
Now, Democrats are hoping that Harris — the former prosecutor — can make a more convincing case.
“Donald Trump doesn’t care about border security,” Harris said loudly at the rally in Atlanta, to loud applause. “He only cares about himself.”
‘Root of problems’
Shortly after taking office, Biden tasked Harris with overseeing diplomatic efforts with the Northern Triangle – Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. At the time, there was an influx of unaccompanied migrant children from that region.
Harris has repeatedly said she would examine the “root causes” of this migration, which the Biden administration has said is due in part to typical immigration cycles as well as major hurricanes and the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans have labeled Harris the “border czar.” The White House rejected the title. Instead, Harris’ team highlighted that her efforts to combat the root causes of migration raised billions of dollars in private sector commitments, but argued that she was not responsible for daily fluctuations in illegal border crossings.
As NBC News reported last year, a former Biden administration aide said it was no secret that Harris, who was not as steeped in foreign policy as the president, was wary of addressing migration issues when Biden gave her the assignment. . Instead, she chose to be an aggressive messenger on the issue of reproductive rights.
Some immigration advocates have argued that the Biden administration has more generally ignored the border.
“I think the two go hand in hand,” said Jodi Goodwin, an immigration attorney in Harlingen, Texas, referring to the distinction between long-term and short-term solutions. “Because if there is an effective plan or policy to address the ‘root causes,’ then that should alleviate the problems we see at the border.”
At the New York Times Dealbook Summit in November 2023, Harris reiterated the administration’s position that the immigration system was broken – but that it was up to Congress to act on a legislative solution.
“It needs to be repaired and we are working on it in order to establish a safe, humane and orderly immigration system at the border,” Harris said. “There are political games being played with this because in November 2024, some people have decided this might be the best weapon against an incumbent Democrat.”
Still, his allies were frustrated trying to draw a distinction between the official mission he was given and the way his political opponents defined it. Early in the Biden administration, Harris’ press secretary — after fielding several questions about her boss’s handling of immigration issues — gave a blunt response during an informal briefing with reporters.
“The vice president is not drawing the line,” said Symone Sanders. “The president asked the vice president to take over diplomatic efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle to address the root causes of migration.”
(Sanders has since left the vice president’s office and is now a host on MSNBC.)
Questions about Harris’ role — or lack thereof — in setting immigration policy have persisted throughout her tenure. Memorably, in June 2021, Harris received criticism following an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt when she insisted “We’ve already been to the border” — despite her not having made any trips there as vice president. She ended up taking a trip to El Paso, Texas, a few weeks later.
As illegal border crossings increased, Harris’ critics blamed the Biden administration — and Harris herself.
“I think everyone would agree that she was missing in action,” said Chris Cabrera, spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council.
At his own rally in Atlanta on Saturday, Trump criticized the vice president.
“For three and a half years, ‘border czar’ Harris allowed terrorists and criminals to cross our open border,” he said. “And now she’s denying it.”
‘An active error’
Still, migrant crossings have declined sharply in recent months after Biden tightened asylum rules. Now that the numbers have declined, Harris allies argue that Republicans are making an “active error” by trying to link Harris to them.
“If you’re going to say she’s the ‘border czar,’” said a Harris aide, “she also admits that border crossings are at a record high.”
Publicly, Harris campaign officials are reluctant to directly compare the success of Biden’s messaging on the issue to her. But at the same time, they seem much more optimistic and eager to talk about immigration.
For Senator Chris Murphy, it’s a clear opportunity to win over voters in November. He’s convinced that swing voters won’t like the immigration policies Trump is promising — including mass deportations — and will side with Democrats.
“We have to prove to people that we’re not just compassionate,” Murphy said, “but that we’re also tough.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
