Vice President Kamala Harris is vowing to Latino voters that she will open the borders to a large number of economic migrants and provide shares of their U.S. citizenship to millions of immigrants who have entered the United States without authorization. The pledge comes as part of her administration’s plan to tackle migration goals that align with the interests of the Democratic Party’s donor base, comprised of West Coast investors and Wall Street money managers.
Speaking at a town hall meeting hosted by Univision on October 10, Harris addressed Latino-American audiences, emphasizing her commitment to reforming the country’s immigration policies: “My pledge to you is that, by the grace of God and hopefully with your support as well, when I am elected president, I will bring back that [2024] border security bill, and I will sign it into law and do the work of focusing on what we must do to have an orderly and humane pathway to earn citizenship.
The proposed legislation would have granted entry to a massive influx of economic migrants seeking asylum while expediting their path towards fast-track citizenship. The bill, if enacted, would have resulted in increased competition for jobs, downward pressure on wages, elevated housing costs, and overall chaos within the nation’s social fabric.
However, recent polling suggests that many blue-collar Latino voters have increasingly gravitated towards Trump and the Republican Party due to its pro-American policies that prioritize economic growth for citizens and their families. This development has seemingly eclipsed the Democrats’ focus on ethnic-centric politics, which often emphasizes appeasing self-appointed leaders of specific ethnic blocs over broader concerns about national welfare.
In fact, a recent Axios-Ipsos poll revealed that among Latino adults: 38% support deporting illegal aliens (up from 28% since Biden took office), 42% support securing the southern border by building a wall (up 12 points since last year), and 64% believe a president should have the authority to close borders if an invasion of migrants is underway.
Moreover, Cuban Americans lead support for securing the southern border with a wall at 58%, while 37% of “Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans” support such construction efforts. Similarly, an Ipsos poll on June 24 indicated that 47% of Latino voters want government policies to prioritize American citizens over job-seeking migrants.
These figures suggest that there is growing dissatisfaction among the Latino electorate with the Democrats’ approach to immigration policy and its potential impact on their communities, raising questions about the viability of Kamala Harris’ pledge in appealing to these voters.