Vice President Kamala Harris’s failure to repudiate her 2019 mass amnesty plan has raised concerns about her stance on immigration, particularly in light of her history of reversing herself on various issues.
In 2019, Harris proposed a “first of its kind” parole-in-place program for Dreamers and 6 million other undocumented immigrants, which would have granted them a path to citizenship without legislation. This plan was based on the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, but would have expanded it to include all DACA recipients.
The concept of parole-in-place originated as an extralegal program created by Obama in 2013 to benefit the spouses, children, and parents of current and former members of the armed forces. However, the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act limited parole-in-place to members of the armed forces and their families.
Harris’s 2019 plan would have extended parole-in-place to all DACA recipients, despite the lack of a statutory basis for such a program. Fast-forward to June 2024, when President Joe Biden announced his own parole-in-place program, which was challenged by Republican governors and is currently the subject of ongoing litigation.
When asked about her plans to grant unilateral executive amnesty to Dreamers, Harris’s campaign declined to answer, sparking concerns about her intentions. The fact that both the Biden and Harris parole-in-place plans lack a statutory basis raises questions about the potential for abuse of the parole power.
The Biden-Harris administration has already been accused of creating an extralegal immigration system by granting parole status to millions of undocumented immigrants. Given this track record, it is reasonable to wonder whether Harris would also grant retroactive parole status to millions of undocumented immigrants already in the country.
Harris’s campaign should be pressed to clarify her stance on her 2019 parole-in-place plan and the Biden 2024 plan, and to explain whether she intends to grant mass amnesty to undocumented immigrants. Until then, her silence on the matter only fuels speculation and concern about her immigration policies.
