tags: Press Releases

Sharp Contrasts: As Trump Makes Vile Anti-Immigrant Politics His Closing Argument, Harris Shows Empathy and Leans into Popular & Balanced Immigration Solutions

Share This:

Washington, DC — The contrasts between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris on immigration – and what it says about their visions for the country – are particularly sharp and consequential this week following the VP Harris Univision town hall held last night in Las Vegas (see below for key excerpts and takeaways) and as Donald Trump makes vile anti-immigrant lies, fear mongering and conspiracies the central focus of his campaign’s closing argument.

Today, Donald Trump is scheduled to rally near Aurora, CO; not because the Trump team thinks he can win Colorado, but to emphasize his anti-immigrant message and amplify false and exaggerated narratives about dark-skinned killer immigrants. An important CNN story, In closing stretch, Trump is defying polls and betting that voters care more about immigration than the economy,” features Trump stating of the most consequential issue, “polls say it’s the economy, and the polls say very strongly it’s inflation, and I can understand it a little bit … To me, it’s the horrible people that we’re allowing into our country that are destroying our country.” He is aware of the bet he is making that immigration will trump the economy or in voter’s minds.

According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice: 

“The choice for president could not be more sharp, clear or profound. The different immigration stances of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are rooted in fundamentally different worldviews, personal experiences and visions of America. The Harris vision recognizes legal and orderly immigration and the dreams and sacrifices of generations of immigrants are among America’s greatest strengths. She connects with people who share her own immigrant experience and has empathy for their struggles, as she demonstrated on Univision in Las Vegas last night. 

Meanwhile, the Trump vision is filled with darkness, lies and disinformation, demagoguing immigrants in a dangerous attempt to seize power by exploiting fears and divides. Can you imagine what Trump would say to a woman who lost her mother who could not find health care because of her mother’s immigration status? I can’t imagine. 

At the Univision town hall, VP Harris delivered a vision that matches Americans’ views – common sense solutions that deliver an orderly border, support legal immigration and expand protections and opportunities for Dreamers. The contrast between that vision and her tone and Trump’s ugly lies and mass deportation bluster  are clear and consequential.”

To Cárdenas’s point about the American public’s support for the Harris balanced vision over Trump’s unsparing mass deportations vision, new polling from the University of Maryland, Program for Public Consultation (PPC) in six swing states and nationally, finds when voters are provided a full description of Trump’s proposed mass deportations and related details, they overwhelmingly prefer the details of an earned pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants – by a 58-26% margin nationally.

Below are the most notable immigration excerpts from the VP Harris Univision town hall – each doubling as a sharp contrast with Trump and his vision.

  • Support for DACA and citizenship for Dreamers: On the same day the Fifth Circuit heard the latest in the years-long Republican legal challenge to the future of DACA – the same program Trump tried to end as President – VP Harris leaned into her unequivocal support for Dreamers’ opportunities in America. As CBS News highlighted, during the town hall, “Jesus Aispuro, a first-time voter from California, told Harris he has friends who are ‘Dreamers,’ … Pressing her on what she’d do to protect Dreamers under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Harris said she’d prioritize an immigration plan that establishes a pathway to citizenship. In response to a case in front of a federal appeals court over the fate of DACA, Harris’ campaign issued a statement during the town hall saying Harris ‘will always stand with Dreamers and keep families together’ and urging Congress to pass ‘an earned pathway to citizenship for these young people.’”
  • Support for a popular, balanced immigration approach – orderly border and legal immigration/pathway to citizenship for long-settled immigrants: As the Washington Post highlighted, VP Harris, “argued that the United States can both secure the border and offer pathways to citizenship for immigrants already here,” with Harris noting, “I think it is a false choice for people who say you do one or the other. I believe we must do both. I believe we can do both. And my pledge to you is to work on that. The solutions are in hand. We need the political will.” 
  • Empathy grounded in personal experience – in a manner Donald Trump is incapable of. As NPR noted, the “unscripted format” provided VP Harris a forum to “show empathy while making the case that her opponent does not care about the problems of the middle class.” The most powerful related moment was, per the Post’s recap, following a “question from a 40-year-old woman, who lives in Las Vegas, who cried as she talked about how her mother recently died and never was able to secure legal status. The vice president acknowledged that her story was an example of the ‘real people who are suffering because of an inability to put solutions in front of politics.’ At the end of the town hall, Harris was seen holding the woman’s hand and talking to her before she exited the venue.” (see footage of VP Harris and the woman HERE)