Democrats Confirm Shift to Tougher Immigration Policy at Congress

CHICAGO — Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., who flipped a Republican-held district this year while calling for tougher border and asylum laws, got a speaking slot Wednesday to amplify his message at the Democratic convention.

“Let’s be clear, the border is broken,” Suozzi told the crowd, before promising that Harris “joyfully embraces the challenge of working across party lines, securing our borders and treating people like people.”

Moments later, Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), a progressive immigration advocate who represents a border district, echoed part of his speech by criticizing former President Donald Trump for convincing Republicans to kill a bipartisan bill that would have raised the bar for asylum and given the president new powers to close the border.

“With Kamala Harris as president, we can fulfill the promise of America. We can strengthen legal immigration routes, we can secure our borders, and we can treat those seeking a better future with dignity,” Escobar said.

The border became a major theme in the speeches on Wednesday, confirming the Democratic shift that began earlier this year on the explosive issue of migration. With this, the party hopes to do something about what is perhaps the party’s greatest political weakness.

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It’s a weakness Trump hopes to exploit to reach the White House, as his campaign portrays Harris as a failed “border czar,” citing a diplomatic assignment the Biden White House gave her to address the “root causes” of migration from Central American countries. President Joe Biden issued an executive order in June cracking down on border crossings; the following month, illegal border crossings dropped to their lowest level since he took office in 2021.

After Suozzi and Escobar’s speeches, a video emerged touting the bill’s tough enforcement policies, including thousands of new Border Patrol agents and technology to stop fentanyl. It included a clip of Trump taking “blame” for the death of the bipartisan bill, which was co-authored by Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz. Most Republicans voted against it, saying it didn’t do enough to secure the border.

Trump “botched” the bill “because he thought it would help him win an election,” Harris said in the video. “I went after transnational gangs, drug cartels, human traffickers who were coming into our country illegally,” she continued, referring to her tenure as California’s attorney general. “I pursued them in case after case, and I won.”

Polls show Harris has issues with the border

A recent CBS News poll conducted Aug. 14-16 underscored the challenge for Harris. It found that voters who view the U.S.-Mexico border as an important factor in their 2024 decision backed Trump by a 76%-24% margin. A majority of registered voters believe a Harris win will “increase border crossings,” while a large majority said a Trump win will “decrease border crossings.” NBC News polling has also shown the border to be one of Trump’s strongest issues in the 2024 campaign.

Democrats’ new emphasis on their message stands in stark contrast to 2020 and 2016, when the party talked less about tougher law enforcement and more about creating new legal avenues for people to immigrate. Back then, Democrats were heeding the advice of progressive and pro-immigration Hispanic advocates.

Neither Biden in 2020 nor Hillary Clinton in 2016 mentioned the border in their convention speeches. Clinton in 2016 pledged to “build a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants” already in the U.S., which hasn’t been a focus for Harris. Both Biden and Clinton mentioned immigrants in the context of celebrating their contributions to the U.S. This year, Democrats are trying to strike a balance by doing both.

During her failed 2020 presidential campaign, Harris also criticized the Obama administration for deporting a record number of people from the U.S. illegally during his first term. “They should not be deported,” Harris said in an NBC News debate in June 2019. “This was one of the few issues I disagreed with the administration on.”

At Wednesday’s convention, Murphy took the stage to portray Trump as an empty vessel using the border for political purposes.

“Trump killed that law, and he did it because he knew that if we fixed the border, he would lose his ability to divide us, his ability to stoke the flames of fear,” Murphy said. “Kamala Harris has been adamant about securing our border for 20 years.”

“We can be a nation of immigrants who love their country and a nation with a secure border,” he said. “There is only one candidate who can deliver on that vision of America, and that is Kamala Harris.”

The Democratic organization Blueprint tested different messages on immigration and found that Republican attacks on Harris as a “border czar” who has pushed “open borders” policies resonate.

It also found that the best rebuttals emphasized Harris’ work as a prosecutor targeting gangs and drug traffickers, and her belief that immigrants should come here legally.

The group shared that advice with Harris’ campaign this month and believes it’s reflected in the vice president’s response. One of Harris’ campaign’s first TV ads cast her as tough on border security, leaning on her work as a prosecutor. Biden never aired a border-themed TV spot during his reelection campaign, AdImpact said.

“We’re excited to see these signposts reflected in the initial Harris messaging and ads about the border,” said Alyssa Cass, a Democratic strategist who worked on the Blueprint poll. “Suozzi on stage seems to reflect a continued smart strategy by party leadership regarding Democratic messaging about the border.”