This Issue: VP Hopeful Kamala Harris will likely pull Biden to the extremes on immigration

Fri, Aug. 14^th

Since Democratic presumptive nominee Joe Biden announced that Sen. Kamala Harris of California would be his running mate, she's been largely described as a centrist. But on immigration, nothing could be further from the truth.

Take a look at a few of this week's headlines:

Picking Harris, Biden puts centrist stamp on Democrats' future

-- Los Angeles Times

Kamala Harris Won't Satisfy Progressives

-- Wall Street Journal

And this Tweet from the New York Times:

Breaking News: Sen. Kamala Harris of California is Joe Biden's pick for vice president. A pragmatic moderate...

-- @nytimes

HARRIS: MORE foreign workers & LESS enforcement

The best way to label Sen. Harris' Senate record on immigration is support for more foreign workers and much less enforcement.

On the issue of workers, Harris has shown a tendency to support more high-skilled immigration. She cosponsored legislation offered by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) that would exempt foreign workers with advanced degrees in STEM from numerical limits, and she's the lead Democratic sponsor on S. 386 -- a bill that would lift per-country caps on employment visas.

She also supports giving amnesty and a path to citizenship to most of the 11-18 million illegal aliens living in the United States and to anyone who currently has Temporary Protected Status (TPS) while expanding TPS to Bahamians and Venezuelans.

On enforcement, Sen. Harris has cosponsored just about every bill offered in the Senate that would roll back Pres. Trump's immigration enforcement executive actions, including the actions that helped end last summer's border surge.

She supports extending asylum status along with work permits to nearly everyone who crosses the border illegally, and she's expressed support for decriminalizing illegal border crossings.

How Harris could affect the ticket

As a running mate, Sen. Harris will mostly compliment Joe Biden's positions on immigration. But there are some stark differences between Biden's stated positions and those espoused in the Biden-Sanders Unity Plan. Since Sen. Harris' positions have been more in line with those of the Unity Plan, her place on the ticket will surely reassure the authors of the plan.

For example, on healthcare, Biden has said he supports allowing illegal aliens to purchase insurance on the insurance exchanges, but he opposes giving them taxpayer funded subsidies. Sen. Harris, on the other hand, has expressed support for extending taxpayer subsidized insurance to illegal aliens -- the same position of the Unity Plan.

On enforcement, Biden's plan stops short of calling for an end to the 287(g) program that allows local police to partner with federal immigration officers. But both Sen. Harris and the Unity Plan call for the elimination of the 287(g) program.

Still, it's Biden's name at the top of the ticket, so ultimately it'll be his decision as to what will be their final positions on immigration. But either way, there will be a clear difference for voters this fall.

Chris Chmielenski
NumbersUSA Deputy Director

Washington Times: Democrats celebrating Sen. Kamala D. Harris' pick as their party's vice presidential nominee cited her groundbreaking ancestry, her personal story and her work as a district attorney and later California attorney general.

But few found much to say about her current job as the junior senator from California...

NumbersUSA, which pushes for restrictions on immigration, rates her at 0%.

Breitbart: Rosemary commented on Sen. Rick Scott blocking a bill to lift per-country capes.

"We were very pleased to see Senator Scott stand up for American workers, and we hope he will continue to stand up," said Rosemary Jenks, policy director for NumbersUSA.

But, she said, many Senators are afraid to oppose Immigration Voice's aggressive tactics, which include harassing phones call to Senators' offices.

"What's pushing this is that Durbin has demonstrators outside his office calling him a racist. It is clearly aggressive -- but why would they not do so when they look around the country and see what else is happening? The difference here is that no non-citizen has a right to be in the United States, and the kind of tactics that are being used to demand a right that does not exist is concerning."

We need your help to fill in a lot of blanks on nearly 600 congressional races. Yes, nearly 600!

STEP 1: Go to our locator map and check out the Primary candidates for Representative in your own District -- as well as for a Senate race, if your state has one this year.

You'll probably find a lot of blanks because most candidates have not taken our survey and we've not come across them taking immigration positions in the media. In general, you can assume the blanks are masking a poor or bad position. Let's unmask them.

STEP 2: Email Joe by clicking here if you see any comment about one of those candidates taking an immigration position in the newspaper or on the internet. Pay special attention to candidates who are considered competitive for possibly winning the Primary.

State Department Loosens Trumps Immigration Restrictions

Fri, Aug. 14^th

The State Department has issued guidance to consulate offices with a broad list of exemptions to Pres. Trump's recent executive order that blocked the entry of most foreign workers. The guidance could end up allowing most visa applicants severely weakening the intent of the president's order.

Iago, Immigration, and the Cannibalization of the American Family

Jeremy Beck

Fri, Aug. 14^th

It's not the current fashion to acknowledge that the post-1965 wave of immigration has had lasting and deleterious effects on Black Americans, but John Wood, Jr. of Braver Angels goes there on The Darkhorse Podcast from July 13, 2020.

VP Candidate Kamala Harris -- Pleases Wall St. & Silicon Valley, which means Bad News for American Workers

CHRIS CHMIELENSKI

Wed, Aug. 12^th

In picking Sen. Kamala Harris of California to complete his ticket, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has made two groups very happy -- Wall St. and Silicon Valley. If her voting record on immigration is any indication, Sen. Harris will aggressively advocate for the Biden-Sanders 'Unity Plan' -- a list of policy recommendations that would increase legal immigration while all but eliminating immigration enforcement. That's good news for Big Business and bad news for American workers and their wages.

More People, More Noise Pollution Hurts Our Environment

Amy Boylan

Tue, Aug. 11^th

Continual population growth creates more noise. This ultimately solutions as short-term band-aids as more people are using the same limited resources - including our national parks. Our federal government has the ability to address this issue by reducing immigration-driven population growth, which accounts for 88% of U.S. population growth.

Arrests of Illegal Border Crossers Have Spiked 237% Since April

Mon, Aug. 10^th

The number of people arrested at the southern border for illegally entering the United States has soared since April despite efforts from the Administration to curtail such actions.