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2019 ACLU Poll Highlights Harris’ Past Support for Progressive Causes
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2019 ACLU Poll Highlights Harris’ Past Support for Progressive Causes

A 2019 survey of then-Senator Kamala Harris showed she was more supportive of more progressive causes, a contrast to her more moderate approach as she seeks to appeal to a broad audience in the final days of the 2024 presidential election.

Harris’ responses on the American Civil Liberties Union’s form indicate that she once supported cuts to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and used taxes to fund gender reassignment surgery for federal prisoners and immigrant detainees. The current vice president also supported federal decriminalization of drug possession for personal use, and she pledged to end immigration detention.

When she filed, Harris was running for the 2020 primary, but she dropped out before the polls opened.

In an August interview with CNN, Harris noted that she has changed some of her positions, but insisted her “values ​​haven’t changed.”

“The vice presidential positions have been shaped by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris administration,” a Harris campaign adviser told CNN.

Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally in North Hampton, New Hampshire, U.S., September 4, 2024. A 2019 ACLU poll revealed some of her earlier, more progressive positions
Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally in North Hampton, New Hampshire, U.S., September 4, 2024. A 2019 ACLU poll revealed some of her earlier, more progressive positions (REUTERS)

“As president, she will take the same pragmatic approach, focusing on common sense solutions in the interest of progress,” a spokesperson added.

Harris’ tougher rhetoric on immigration enforcement is a significant departure from the position she took in the 2019 survey.

She wrote that she would end private prisons and immigration detention centers and cut funding to 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,” the then-senator wrote. “I was one of the first senators after President Trump was elected to advocate for a reduction in funding for ICE.”

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

ICE detainers are requests by the agency for local or state law enforcement to hold an individual for up to 48 hours beyond the original release time so that ICE can potentially deport him or her.

When asked for comment, the Harris campaign referred to a statement from Fox News communications director Michael Tyler.

“That questionnaire is not what she’s proposing or what she’s running on. If you want to talk about immigration or border security, she’s been very clear about … how she has governed and plans to govern if she becomes president of the United States,” he said. “If you talk about border security, for example, she’s made it clear that the bipartisan border security package that Donald Trump blew up because he thought it would benefit him politically, if it comes to her desk, she will sign it.”

On trans rights, Harris said in 2019 that she supported taxpayer funding for gender reassignment surgeries for federal prisoners and detained immigrants.

“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. “That is why, as attorney general, I have urged the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide gender transition surgery to inmates in the state.”

“Transitional care is a medical necessity, and I will direct all federal agencies responsible for delivering essential medical care to provide transitional care,” she added at the time.

Harris also said on the questionnaire that she supported decriminalizing all drug possession for personal use. Her answer was only about the idea of ​​legalizing marijuana, citing the Marijuana Justice Act, which she co-sponsored and which would have made the drug federally legal.

She added that drug use should be seen as a public health issue, not a crime issue.

“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 at the time.