Fact Check: Kamala Harris Claims She Is ‘Fighting to Fix Our Broken Immigration System’

CLAIM: Vice President Kamala Harris is “fighting to fix our broken immigration system,” while former President Donald Trump is “trying to stop her.”

VERDICT: False.

While serving as a senator from California, Harris was one of 21 senators who signed a letter to their colleagues calling for them to reject Trump’s “FY19 funding request for a costly and ineffective border wall” and “new Border Patrol agents.”

“As your Committee considers fiscal year 2019 appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), we ask you to reject President Trump’s FY19 funding request for a costly and ineffective border wall, new Border Patrol agents, and a large increase in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel and detention beds,” the letter began.

In 2019, Harris also supported a bill that was sponsored by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) to protect illegal immigrants from being deported.

Harris has also previously stated she is in favor of giving illegal immigrants in the U.S. taxpayer-funded health care, she compared the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to the Ku Klux Klan in November 2018 during a Senate hearing, and she had previously signed a letter criticizing the Trump administration for temporarily closing the border, arguing that it violated federal law.

Despite this, Harris’s presidential campaign released a campaign advertisement on X claiming that she “is fighting to fix our broken immigration system.”

“On the border, the choice is simple,” the ad begins. “Kamala Harris supports increasing the number of border patrol agents. Donald Trump blocked a bill to increase the number of border patrol agents. Kamala Harris supports investing in new technology to block fentanyl from entering the country. Donald Trump blocked funding for technology to block fentanyl from entering the country.”

The Associated Press reported in March 2021 that President Joe Biden had “tapped” Harris “to lead” the administration’s “effort to tackle the migration challenge at the U.S. southern border and work with Central American nations to address root causes of the problem.”

Specifically, on March 24, 2021, Biden announced that he asked Harris “to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that help — are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border.”

In June, the Republican National Committee (RNC) revealed in a press release that since Biden took office, roughly 30.3 tons of fentanyl has crossed into the nation through the southern border.

A recent Harvard-Harris poll found that 68 percent of voters do not support having open borders, while 32 percent said they support open borders. Sixty-nine percent of voters believe that Harris is in favor of open borders, while 31 percent believe she is against open borders.