Washington, DC — The two different visions for America and immigration were fully on display yesterday in the contrast between the speeches and focus of Vice President Kamala Harris at the DNC and former President Donald Trump at the border in Arizona.
- VP Harris connected her proud first generation immigrant heritage to the larger American story and, alongside a focus on the border and Trump’s role in scuttling bipartisan, enforcement-heavy Senate legislation, Harris also embraced support for citizenship and legal immigration, which are components of the multifaceted immigration messaging Democrats have coalesced around.
- Donald Trump, in response to excellent questioning by NBC News reporter Garrett Haake, reiterated the unsparing nature of his proposed mass deportation plan, including the potential deportations of immigrants in American mixed-status families. Trump admitted his proposed “largest deportation operation in American history” would be expensive to implement, but in his head, he justifies mass deportation because he imagines that the vast majority of immigrants are criminals or mental patients, which is of course pure disinformation. If you count the cost of rounding up, incarcerating and processing people along with the lost economic output, higher inflation, and job loss, the result of mass deportation would be devastation to communities across America.
The following is a statement from America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas, followed by more details and implications of yesterday’s Harris and Trump remarks:
“The dueling visions for America and immigration between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump were in stark relief yesterday. VP Harris’s remarks articulated a pro-immigrant vision of a hopeful and forward looking America, where an orderly border and a pathway to citizenship can and should coexist. In Arizona, Trump delivered a dystopian vision of our nation and proudly proclaimed that his mass deportation operation would be costly to implement and would separate mixed-status families in America. Trump’s vision is tired and worn out, while Harris’ puts America’s best foot forward as a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. It’s a contrast that is as consequential as it is sharp.”
Kamala Harris leans into “both/and” components of immigration message and embraces first generation immigration heritage
VP Harris started her speech with a reminder of her parents’ immigrant journeys, saying for example of her mother, “she crossed the world alone, traveling from India to California with an unshakable dream,” and connecting that personal immigration story to a larger vision of America that is hopeful and forward looking. Later, VP Harris embraced the “both/and” vision, articulating support for an orderly, secure border and highlighting Trump’s role in scuttling the bipartisan, enforcement-heavy Senate legislation before stating:
“I know — I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system. We can create an earned pathway to citizenship and secure our border.”
As Greg Sargent of The New Republic captured, “virtually all the commentary and news accounts ignore the fact that in her speech Kamala Harris reaffirmed her commitment to legalization for undocumented immigrants. Everyone is only noting the border security side of the equation. It’s more complicated than that!”
Donald Trump: Mass Deportations Would “Cost Trillion” and Mixed Status Families May Be Separated
Yesterday, while Trump was in Arizona delivering a rambling and dystopic immigration and border speech, an excellent NBC News interview from Garrett Haake pressed the former president on the details and costs of his unsparing mass deportation plans. The full video exchange is worth watching, embedded in this reported article and link but below are key excerpts from the NBC News story, “Trump says he will make ‘provisions’ for mixed-status families but doesn’t rule out separations with mass deportations”:
“Former President Donald Trump on Thursday said the cost to deport millions of undocumented immigrants is justified and would not rule out separating families made up of citizens and noncitizens.
‘…we have no choice, regardless, we have no choice. We’re going to have to deport.’
When pressed, Trump provided no details on how he would pay for his plan, which could cost billions of dollars to implement at scale … Asked whether he would deport undocumented immigrants who are part of mixed-status families, like those married to American citizens or those who are parents to American citizens, Trump simply said, ‘Provisions will be made, but we have to get the criminals out.’
The former president did not elaborate on the provisions he would make for mixed-status families. Trump also brushed off a question about whether local law enforcement would be willing to help execute mass deportations, ignoring that some have said they are uninterested in assisting.”
Additional Resources and Background
- America’s Voice memo from this week: “The Shifted Politics of Immigration in the 2024 Campaign,” highlighting three key points:
- Point 1: Democrats are coalescing around a strategy on immigration – As the Harris/Walz ticket and other key Democrats are modeling, they are calling for a ‘both/and’ approach to legal immigration, legal status, and a secure and orderly border that contrasts with the GOP; and they are calling out Republicans’ obstruction and dangerous politicization of the issue.
- Point 2: The clear contrasts with Trump and GOP should include details on the costs and consequences for all Americans of Trump’s proposed mass deportation agenda and the sharply different visions for how to treat families, Dreamers and long-settled immigrants.
- Point 3: The ‘both/and’ approach to addressing concerns about the border and fixing the immigration system lines up with the American people and is a winning approach that has the support of the majority of voters, including Latino voters and those in battleground states.
