It's important to note that we have Harris 2019 and Harris 2024. The positions have changed a lot since then.
Harris 2019
CNN had this on her proposed immigration policy, which includes quotes from Harris herself (June 12, 2019)
Sen. Kamala Harris on Wednesday announced a plan to expand the use of deferred action immigration programs as president and use executive actions to remove the threat of deportation of millions of undocumented people in the United States.
And
Harris would look to remove barriers that prevent many so-called Dreamers – undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children – from receiving legal status by applying for a green card. The plan would also expand the use of deferred action programs to cover parents of US citizens and legal permanent residents, veterans and undocumented immigrants who have been in the United States for years.
The plan would also make it easier for deferred action recipients to adjust their immigration status by clarifying that a number of infractions usually committed by Dreamers – like entering the country unlawfully, having lapses in their immigration status and performing unauthorized work – do not impact immigration proceedings as long as those recipients have a family connection in the United States or a job that requires them to adjust their status.
“Every day in the life of a Dreamer who fears deportation is a long day,” Harris said in a statement. “Dreamers cannot afford to sit around and wait for Congress to get its act together. Their lives are on the line.”
She added: “As president, while I fight for Congress to pass 21st Century immigration reform, I won’t wait. I’ll take action to lift barriers Dreamers face to pursuing legal status and put them on a meaningful path to citizenship. These young people are just as American as I am, and they deserve a president who will fight for them from day one.”
Decriminalize crossings vs legal pathway to citizenship
Decriminalization of crossings appears to have been gaining some popularity among Democrats in 2019 (the article caveats this quote by noting it was an outlier)
Nearly two-thirds of Democrats favor leaving civil immigration authorities in charge of immigration violations by decriminalizing border-crossing violations, according to a new poll conducted by Democratic pollster YouGov Blue.
But it was also divisive within the party at the time (opinion piece by Juliette Kayyem, a former Obama DHS official)
The 1325 debate, then, allows Democrats to avoid what can’t be avoided: that a nation based on laws must have deportation, enforcement and removal standards to protect its borders. It is too easy to say Trump is ruthless in this regard, though he is. But regardless of whether repeal of 1325 is good or bad politics for the party, the reality is that the next president will need to govern the United States. And that requires laws that allow a commander in chief to protect the borders, deport individuals and keep some people out.
Decriminalizing entry is not popular. Pew research didn't bother with it in their 2022 survey. You'll note they focused on the same thing that Biden's proposed law did: legal pathways to citizenship
Liberal Democrats are the most supportive of creating a way for most undocumented immigrants to stay in the country legally: 85% say this should be an important goal, including 44% who say it should very important. Three-quarters of conservative and moderate Democrats see this as an important goal, including 32% who see it as very important. Among Republicans, half of moderates and liberals say a path to legal status should be an important goal, while only about three-in-ten conservatives (28%) say the same.
Harris 2024
Harris' campaign has not formally put forth any proposals, but you'll note that the talk of decriminalization of crossings has entirely been replaced with pathways to citizenship. Harris did talk some about the Biden/Harris postion in Nov 2023
At the New York Times Dealbook Summit in November, Harris reiterated the administration’s position that the immigration system was broken — but that it was up to Congress to act on a legislative fix.
“It needs to be repaired, and we are working on that in a way that we establish a safe and humane and orderly immigration system at the border,” Harris said. “There are political games being played with this because, in November of ’24, some people have decided that may be the best weapon against an incumbent Democrat.”
Thus far, Harris has not really deviated from the Biden positions on various subjects all that much. Here's what Biden has proposed legislatively on immigration
This legislation, sent to Congress by President Joe Biden in 2021, restores humanity and American values to our immigration system.
There's nothing on decriminalizing what is currently illegal entry (Biden, you'll note, was one of the ones who did not raise his hand to the question of decriminalization of crossing), but it does offer amnesty and a path to citizenship to those who did so already
The U.S. Citizenship Act keeps families together and reunifies those who have been kept apart by an arcane immigration system. The bill:
- Provides an earned path to citizenship for people who contribute to their communities, including their spouses and children. The bill enables individuals who have lived in the United States for years, and in some cases for decades, to keep their family together lawfully and earn the security and stability of U.S. citizenship. The bill establishes a roadmap to citizenship for undocumented noncitizens by allowing them to apply for temporary legal status (“Lawful Prospective Immigrant Status”), with the opportunity to apply for lawful permanent residence (i.e., “green card”) after five years if they pass criminal and national security background checks and pay taxes. Dreamers, recipients of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and agricultural workers who meet specific requirements will be immediately eligible for green cards. Eligible spouses and children are included.
- Reforms the family-based immigration system by clearing the immigrant visa backlogs. The bill recaptures unused family-sponsored visas since FY 1992 and exempts from the numerical limitations: (1) spouses, permanent partners, and children under the age of 21 of lawful permanent residents; (2) derivative spouses and children of principal applicants; (3) individuals who have been waiting to be reunited with their families for more than 10 years; and (4) sons and daughters of Filipino World War II veterans. The bill also alleviates lengthy wait times for individuals from higher-admission states by raising the per-country limits from 7% to 20%.
- Eliminates statutory barriers that keep families apart. The bill repeals the three and ten-year unlawful presence bars and the permanent bar on admission, protects children from aging out of visa eligibility due to processing delays, and ensures that beneficiaries of family-based petitions retain their earliest priority date even if they later become eligible for a visa under a different category.
I don't expect a final Harris position to differ all that much from this. Early statements from campaign surrogates seem to be pointing in that direction. Again, note the shift to protecting those who are here.
Beyond border security, Harris is preparing to hit Trump on policies that remain unpopular with key swaths of the electorate — like mass deportations — while elevating the Biden administration’s moves to grant legal protections to long-term, undocumented spouses and children of American citizens. Aides and allies say it will give Harris an opportunity to ding Trump once again for his controversial family separation policy, like she did when he was in office.
