During the first 2020 Democratic primary debate in June, which took place in Miami, Senator Kamala Harris raised her hand in favor of decriminalizing the act of entering the country illegally and without permission.
During an interview on ABC's The View Friday morning, Harris stumbled badly over a question about decriminalizing border crossings. Not only did she change her position from the June debate, she changed her position twice in under one minute.
"That is not correct. I am not in favor of decriminalizing um, or not having consequences for, we have to keep, let me just be very clear. We have to have a secure border but I am in favor of saying we are not going to treat people who are undocumented and cross the border as criminals, that is correct," she said. "I woould not make it a crime punishable by jail. It should be a civil enforcement issue but not a criminal enforcement issue."
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Meanwhile, former Obama Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has gone on record against this position, stating it is an open borders policy and completely unworkable.
“That is tantamount to declaring publicly that we have open borders,” Johnson told the Washington Post. “That is unworkable, unwise and does not have the support of a majority of American people or the Congress, and if we had such a policy, instead of 100,000 apprehensions a month, it will be multiples of that.”
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