During her acceptance of the Democratic presidential nomination at the party’s convention in Chicago last week, Vice President Kamala Harris aimed to strike a careful balance on immigration. She emphasized her commitment to enforcing border security with the experience of a former prosecutor while maintaining the nation’s core values.
“I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system,” Harris declared on Thursday night. “We can create an earned pathway to citizenship and secure our border.”
Harris’s approach mirrors the broader Democratic strategy at the convention: balancing the need for increased border security with the importance of treating immigrants humanely. The party has been walking a fine line between enforcing the law and rejecting the fear-based rhetoric that has dominated the immigration debate in recent years.
However, the Democratic Party’s stance on immigration, especially in the past week, has taken a more stringent turn than it has in recent decades. This shift underscores how politically sensitive the issue remains for Harris and other Democratic candidates as they approach the November elections. Voters increasingly view the southern border as a critical concern, with a growing number of Republicans and independents supporting stricter immigration controls.
Throughout the convention, Democrats frequently criticized former President Donald Trump and Republicans for blocking a bipartisan border security deal earlier this year. Former President Barack Obama noted that the deal was “written in part by one of the most conservative Republicans in Congress.”
Despite these criticisms, there were few direct condemnations of Trump’s immigration policies or promises to reverse them. While there were general calls to expand legal pathways to citizenship, there was little discussion of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants who might benefit, many of whom have been living and working in the U.S. for years. The issue of Dreamers—undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children—was notably absent from the convention’s agenda.
When not discussing border security, Democrats appeared to downplay the immigration issue. It was not prioritized in the party’s platform, and few discussions at the convention focused on immigration. One panel, advertised as a discussion on comprehensive immigration reform, drew fewer than two dozen attendees.
Andrea Flores, a former Biden administration official who has become a critic of the administration’s immigration policies, moderated the panel. She expressed concern that the lack of distinction between Trump and Democratic policies on immigration could allow Trump to capitalize on voter dissatisfaction.
“You see support growing for mass deportations, you see support growing for ending asylum, you see support growing for his policies,” Flores warned.
Last month, Republicans made immigration a central theme of their national convention. Speakers accused migrants of taking jobs and stealing votes, with placards bearing the slogan “Mass deportation now!” Before Harris’s speech, Trump made a public appearance at the border fence in Cochise County, Arizona, where he falsely accused Harris and Democrats of causing a “plague of migrant crime.”
Harris has yet to fully unveil her immigration platform, which is expected to be released in the coming weeks. So far, her approach has echoed President Biden’s recent stance. In response to the collapse of the bipartisan deal in Congress, Biden has taken a tougher line on border security while advocating for citizenship pathways for law-abiding undocumented immigrants. In June, he signed executive orders restricting asylum and expanding legal protections for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens.
During her speech, Harris pledged to sign the bipartisan bill, which would increase detentions, restrict asylum claims, fund additional Border Patrol agents, and invest in technology to combat drug smuggling.
Senator Chris Coons of Delaware described the Democratic Party’s support of the border security bill as a significant shift in the party’s approach to border security, asylum, and the treatment of migrants.
“It’s important that the Democratic Party continues to stand clearly on we’re willing to do this,” Coons stated.
Some Democrats and pollsters believe that Harris’s tougher stance could benefit her in swing states like Arizona and Michigan, where immigration is a top issue for many independent voters.
“She is a border state prosecutor, and I think Democrats will be wise to remind voters of that,” commented Matt Bennett, executive vice president for public affairs at Third Way, a centrist Democratic advocacy group.
Other Democratic candidates have also adopted stricter immigration stances in key House and Senate races. Michelle Vallejo, a Democrat running for a House seat in South Texas, faced criticism from progressives for an ad in which she promised to support increases in Border Patrol officers and described her region as “overwhelmed by the chaos at the border.”
Representative Tom Suozzi of New York, who flipped a Republican seat this year, provided Democrats with a template for neutralizing the immigration issue. Suozzi called for temporarily closing the border and deporting migrants who assault law enforcement officers. In his convention speech, Suozzi emphasized rejecting divisiveness and dysfunction.
“To be a nation of immigrants is hard sometimes, too — you have to work for it,” Suozzi said. “We reject the divisiveness. We reject the dysfunction.”
In contrast, the Democratic Party’s stance in the 2020 election cycle focused on rolling back Trump-era policies, with less emphasis on specific proposals. At that time, more Americans were adopting permissive views on immigration as they reacted to the Trump administration’s more extreme actions, such as the travel ban from certain Muslim-majority countries and the family separations at the southern border.
Now, some Democrats worry that the party’s current response to immigration issues is insufficient and too focused on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Alejandra Gomez, executive director of Living United for Change in Arizona, a Latino voter mobilization group, expressed her concerns as she entered the convention arena. She wanted more discussion about supporting laborers and undocumented immigrants who have long contributed to the U.S. economy.
“If we don’t define the message,” Gomez cautioned, “Republicans will define it for us.”