Left-Wing Activists Hope Kamala Harris’ Border Hawk Rebrand Is Just Smoke And Mirrors

Left-wing activist groups are quietly hoping that Vice President Kamala Harris’ new hawkish rhetoric on the border is nothing more than a charade, Axios reported Wednesday.

The vice president and her campaign team have specifically touted her endorsement of the failed Senate border bill negotiated earlier in 2024 as evidence that Harris is serious about restoring order to the border, according to Axios. Various left-wing activist organizations continue to oppose that bill, but their leaders are nevertheless supporting Harris or otherwise hoping that her shift on the border is not genuine.

Specifically, the Senate border bill would have continued border wall construction, restricted asylum and dedicated more resources to detaining illegal immigrants. However, it still would have effectively permitted high volumes of illegal immigrants to enter the country, one key reason why more conservative Republicans opted to tank the bill.

“We all know and trust Harris to make the right decisions when she’s in office. I don’t think this bill will ever come up again, as is,” Kerri Talbot, executive director of Immigration Hub, told Axios, adding that she still supports Harris’ candidacy.

Other groups have clarified that they would oppose Harris if she were to be elected and then attempt to pass the stalled immigration bill, according to Axios. The outlet sought a brief interview with Harris to discuss her positions on the issue, but the campaign declined to make her available.

The legislation “undermines asylum protections for LGBTQ+ people fleeing violence,” David Stacy, the Human Rights Campaign’s vice president of government affairs, told Axios. The Human Rights Campaign endorsed Harris’ candidacy on July 21, the same day that President Joe Biden announced he would be quitting the presidential race.

The International Refugee Assistance Project opposes the bill because it would institute “anti-immigrant policies rather than reform or modernize the sorely outdated U.S. immigration system,” Sunil Varghese, the group’s policy director, told Axios.

The Senate border bill “should not be brought to the Senate floor or passed under any current or future administration,” Gina Cummings, vice president of advocacy, alliances and policy, told the outlet.

Beyond touting her support for the failed Senate border legislation, Harris and her campaign have also leaned on her past experience as a prosecutor to persuade voters that she is willing and able to enforce the law to stem illegal immigration, according to Axios. The campaign has run an advertisement to this effect, with a narrator touting her past as a “border-state prosecutor” while images of the border wall appear on the screen.

Prior to her second run for the presidency, Harris had advocated for decriminalizing illegal border crossings, described a border wall as “un-American,” blamed a lack of “climate adaptation” in poor countries for the immigration surge, suggested that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is comparable to the Ku Klux Klan and endorsed taxpayer-funded sex-change surgeries for illegal immigrants.

The Harris campaign did not respond immediately to a request for comment.