Vice President Kamala Harris previously backed a nationwide sanctuary policy which would have prohibited Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from issuing detainers for illegal aliens arrested in local communities, effectively protecting them from deportation. The policy was revealed through an unearthed American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) questionnaire filled out by Harris during her campaign to become the Democrat nomination for president in 2019.
In this questionnaire, she pledged to end ICE’s ability to issue detainers on illegal aliens who had been arrested by local police departments. These detainers are considered essential enforcement tools that enable rapid transfer of arrestees into the custody of ICE agents. Sanctuary jurisdictions such as San Francisco in California, where Harris served as district attorney, prohibit local law enforcement agencies from honoring ICE detainers, thereby shielding those apprehended under local jurisdiction from federal immigration law.
Harris stated in the ACLU questionnaire that she would focus her enforcement efforts on enhancing public safety instead of separating immigrant families, suggesting a requirement for ICE to obtain a warrant when probable cause exists to discontinue the use of detainers. From fiscal year 2021 through fiscal year 2023, the Biden-Harris administration issued ICE detainers on over 270,000 arrested illegal aliens. However, this number is significantly lower than the approximately 607,000 detainers issued by the Trump administration from fiscal year 2017 through fiscal year 2020.
While working as California’s attorney general, Harris defended the state’s sanctuary policy and even threatened local police departments with lawsuits if they complied with ICE detainers. She also expressed her belief that “our immigration detention system is out of control” in the ACLU questionnaire, suggesting the shutdown of ICE detention facilities as a solution to the issue.
As a senator after Trump’s election, Harris advocated for a reduction in funding allocated to ICE, which she reiterated in the questionnaire. She also co-sponsored the DONE Act with Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) in 2018, which sought to reduce the number of ICE detention beds by half.
Harris has a long history of advocating for shutting most of ICE’s detention facilities, which house some of the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens awaiting deportation from the United States. In 2019, she pledged to close immigration detention centers operated by private contractors working with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on her first day in office.