Will Harris continue Biden’s border policy?

Vice President Harris outlined her policy views on the issues page of her website just weeks after being nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate. However, the website does not provide any further details on what she intends to do on immigration and the border.

Harris' campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment Thursday and Friday about whether she would continue the four key actions Biden has taken at the border or go beyond them and implement a more progressive agenda, given her past support for a 50 percent reduction in immigrant detention as well as other progressive immigration initiatives.

Biden's first actions after taking office followed his campaign promises in the 2020 election. He immediately repealed the Trump administration's “Remain in Mexico” policy, which required asylum seekers to live in Mexico during legal proceedings rather than being released into the United States.

A few days after taking office, Biden halted all deportations. He also halted the deportations of criminals living in the United States illegally whose deportation had been ordered by federal judges.

Biden also suspended construction on over 350 miles of the remaining border wall that Congress passed during the Trump administration. Within months, Biden formally cut funding and left countless steel beams along the southern border to rust without dismantling them.

One of Biden's most notable executive actions came in early June of this year, when the White House cracked down on illegal immigration – three and a half years after record numbers of illegal immigrants were encountered at the border.

In the first week of June, after six months of diplomatic talks with his Mexican counterparts to prevent migrants from entering the United States through the country, Biden took new executive actions.

Biden invoked his authority to bar migrants from applying for asylum if they are not intercepted by federal police at a port of entry – which primarily affects people crossing the border with Mexico on foot or by swimming.

Harris touted her campaign as a “new way forward” and failed to acknowledge her boss's accomplishments over the past few years, leading voters to assume her path would be different and “new.”

The campaign website focuses primarily on Harris' work as district attorney in San Francisco, as senator from California and as vice president – not on her plans for the White House if she is elected.

The website's description of how Harris plans to “SECURE OUR BORDERS AND FIX OUR BROKEN IMMIGRATION SYSTEM” says she believes in “tough, smart solutions” to secure the border, protect communities and reform our broken immigration system.

“As Vice President, she supported the bipartisan Border Security Act, the most powerful reform in decades,” the issue page states. “The bill would have deployed more detection technology to intercept fentanyl and other drugs and deployed 1,500 additional Border Patrol Agents to protect our border.”

Republicans have criticized the hiring of more agents, saying it would simply make it easier to arrest and release illegal immigrants entering the U.S. rather than deterring or deporting them. In addition, Harris has refused to say how she would handle a surge in illegal immigration.

“As president, she will reintroduce and sign the bipartisan Border Security Act into law. At the same time, she knows our immigration system is broken and needs comprehensive reforms that include strong border security and an earned path to citizenship,” the site said, echoing statements she made in a campaign video.

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Senator James Lankford (R-OK) spoke with the Washington Examiner in August, saying the bill, which he worked on last winter with Senators Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), would likely not be taken up again next year because it was a response to a specific time and problem that was different from current needs.

Harris has given no indication of how she plans to provide illegal immigrants with an “earned” path to becoming legal permanent residents with the ultimate goal of citizenship.