KFile: Harris pledged in 2019 to cut ICE funding and provide transgender surgery to detained migrants

By Andrew Kaczynski, CNN

(CNN) — As Kamala Harris shifts increasingly to the center in her presidential campaign, a 2019 poll by a leading civil rights organization notes her past support for left-wing causes, such as taxpayer-funded sex-change operations for immigrants and prison inmates.

In an American Civil Liberties Union questionnaire that then-Senator Harris completed as a 2020 presidential candidate, she also expressed support for decriminalizing federal drug possession for personal use and for deep cuts to Immigration and Custom Enforcement operations, including drastic cuts to ICE funding and an open-ended pledge to “end” immigration detention.

The survey has received little media attention, and an ACLU spokesperson claimed the survey has been active since 2019.

But the ACLU’s website upload and page source indicate the survey was reposted last month after Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee. CNN could not find any surveys filled out by other candidates in the 2020 campaign that the ACLU had reposted.

Harris has acknowledged that some of her views have evolved over time, but she remains committed to her core values: “My values haven’t changed,” she said in an interview with CNN last month.

The ACLU questionnaire, which was sent to all Democratic and Republican candidates during the 2020 presidential campaign, provides a clear picture of Harris’s progressive positions. Some candidates did not respond to the questionnaire, including Joe Biden. The ACLU later ran radio ads attacking Biden for not responding.

The ACLU also had volunteers interview candidates at public meetings and later posted videos of their responses on its website.

During a meeting at New Hampshire Town Hall in April 2019, Harris was asked by a constituent whether she supported adding a “third gender” to federal identification cards.

“Absolutely,” Harris responded to applause from the audience. “I have been an ally my entire life and career, and I see the issue of LGBTQ rights as a fundamental civil rights and human rights issue, period,” Harris said.

In her response, Harris also attacked the Trump administration’s efforts to ban transgender people from serving in the military, calling it “outrageous.”

“These are people who have decided that they are willing to sacrifice and serve for the sake of our democracy and our freedom, and you are going to kick them out of the military?” Harris said.

The ACLU told CNN it does not plan to send Harris another questionnaire this election.

Harris’ campaign did not respond to questions from CNN about whether it continued to support these positions, and instead issued a statement attributable only to an unnamed “Harris campaign adviser,” saying: “The Vice President’s positions have been shaped by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris administration.”

They refused to consider her views.

They also issued a comment attributed to a Harris campaign spokesperson, saying, “As president, she will take the same pragmatic approach, focusing on common sense solutions in the interest of progress.”

Immigration

Perhaps the biggest contrast between Harris and her current positions is her new hard-line immigration rhetoric and what she said to the ACLU.

When asked about criminal justice reform in the questionnaire, she wrote that she would end immigration detention facilities (along with private prisons). Harris also said she supported cutting funding for ICE.

“Our immigration detention system is out of control and I believe we must end the unfair incarceration of thousands of individuals, families and children,” Harris wrote. “I was one of the first senators after President Trump was elected to call for a reduction in funding for ICE.”

Harris appears to be referring to her 2017 efforts to oppose increased ICE funding under Trump.

Harris wrote that in 2018 she introduced the Detention Oversight, Not Expansion (DONE) Act to “increase Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s oversight of detention facilities, reduce detention by at least 50%, and end funding for the construction or expansion of new facilities.”

Harris also pledged to end the use of ICE detainers — requests by ICE for local or state law enforcement to hold a person for up to 48 hours after release so that ICE can take him or her into custody for possible deportation.

During the Trump administration, ICE aggressively targeted undocumented immigrants, including asylum seekers, for detention and deportation. Under the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, ICE expanded the use of detention centers, conducted more workplace raids, and increased the number of arrests of undocumented immigrants with no criminal records.

The Biden-Harris administration continued to file detention requests, but the number dropped sharply in the months following the January 2021 inauguration, data from Syracuse University shows.

Harris also noted that as California’s attorney general, she issued guidelines stating that local law enforcement did not have to comply with such stops.

“As president, I will focus enforcement on enhancing public safety, not tearing apart immigrant families. This means requiring ICE to obtain a warrant when there is probable cause to end the use of detention,” she wrote.

ICE has struggled with many so-called sanctuary cities that have limited their cooperation during the Trump presidency. In response, the Trump administration has attempted to withhold some federal funding and increased efforts to circumvent local authorities to detain and deport undocumented immigrants.

As San Francisco’s district attorney, Harris supported immigrant rights by defending the city’s asylum status, declaring at the time: “We are an asylum city, a sanctuary city, and we always will be.”

However, Harris also supported a policy that would have turned over illegal immigrant youth to federal authorities if they were arrested for suspected crimes, regardless of whether they had been convicted.

As California’s attorney general, Harris targeted criminal gangs operating across the U.S.-Mexico border. She also voiced support for illegal immigrants who posed no threat to public safety, opposing Obama-era policies that allowed noncriminal illegal immigrants to be deported.

Transgender rights

Harris also wrote that she supported having taxpayers fund gender transition surgeries for immigrants and federal prisoners.

Harris was asked whether, as president, she would use her “executive power to ensure that transgender and nonbinary people who rely on the state for medical care — including those in prison and immigration detention — have access to comprehensive gender transition treatment, including any necessary surgical care.”

Harris replied, “Yes.”

“It is important that transgender individuals who rely on the state for care receive the treatment they need, which includes access to treatment related to gender transition,” Harris wrote in a response expanding on her response. “That is why, as Attorney General, I have pressured the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide gender transition surgery to inmates in the state,” she wrote.

Harris explained that she supports providing prisoners and detainees access to “surgical care” for gender reassignment.

“Transitional care is a medical necessity, and I will direct all federal agencies responsible for providing essential medical care to provide transitional care,” she wrote.

The first-ever gender-affirming surgery in a federal prison didn’t take place until 2022, after years of legal battles.

Harris’ response marked a change from her previous position as California attorney general, when she defended the California Department of Corrections’ efforts to deny sex reassignment surgery.

When Harris ran for president in 2019, he faced criticism for his previous positions.

At a press conference and later at an LGBTQ forum that year, Harris said that defending the policy was “contrary to my beliefs” but that she was obligated to defend the policy while working “behind the scenes” to change it.

Medicines

Harris also indicated that she supports decriminalizing all drug possession for personal use.

Although Harris indicated she supported drug legalization, her response focused exclusively on marijuana, citing her co-sponsorship of the Marijuana Justice Act, which sought to legalize marijuana at the federal level.

She explained that drug use should be treated as a public health problem and not a criminal problem.

“Throughout my career, I have advocated for the treatment of drug addiction as a public health problem, focusing on rehabilitation rather than incarceration for drug-related offenses,” she wrote.

During her 2019 campaign, Harris admitted to smoking marijuana in the past and advocated for its legalization.