In a stunning yet unsurprising reversal, Vice President Kamala Harris now supports building a border wall. Yes, you read that right – the same wall she and President Joe Biden have been adamantly against for nearly four years. Oh, and don’t forget, back when she was in the Senate, she went on a crusade to shut the idea down entirely.
But here’s the kicker: according to a Rasmussen Reports poll, most Americans aren’t buying it. A solid 68% don’t think she’s been consistent about immigration. Shocker. Only 32% seem to believe that Harris has had the same stance all along. I guess flip-flopping tends to raise eyebrows.
Harris, ever the slick politician, still claims she’d sign a Senate bill into law that earmarks $650 million for border wall construction. You know, the same bill that got nowhere in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Meanwhile, the administration she’s a part of has been busy fighting lawsuits from Texas over the wall since January 2021. In fact, the Biden-Harris crew just lost a federal court battle, adding it to the growing pile of legal spats with half the states in the union, mostly led by (surprise) Texas.
Now, while the Senate was mulling over that bill, where was Harris, the so-called “border czar”? Not involved, according to multiple reports. It’s almost like she’s trying to distance herself from this whole thing. You’d think, after all her vocal opposition to the wall, she’d have something to say.
Back in 2017, Harris outright called Trump’s border wall a “stupid use of money.” She even promised to block funding for it. A year later, in 2018, she was out there urging the Senate Appropriations Committee to nix Trump’s request for wall funding, calling it “costly” and “ineffective.” She also wanted to cut back on immigration enforcement funds and reduce the number of detention beds.
Back in her 2019 presidential bid, she dismissed the wall as a “medieval vanity project.” Then, just a year later, as vice president, she took to Facebook to criticize it as a “complete waste of taxpayer money.” Oh, and ICE? Kamala Harris has made no secret of her disdain for the agency, even calling for its abolition more than once. She’s also argued that a border wall wouldn’t do much to stop drug trafficking, labeling it a waste of resources.
But here we are in 2024, and Harris is suddenly warming up to the idea of a wall. Multiple news outlets are calling her out for this epic flip-flop. Axios was quick to point out that this isn’t her first 180-degree turn, reminding us of her previous stances on Medicare for All and banning fracking – policies she’s since walked back. USA Today even had a columnist say she thought Harris’ support for the wall was straight out of the satirical Babylon Bee.
CNN did some digging and found that between 2017 and now, Harris criticized Trump’s border wall over 50 times. She was relentless, calling it everything from “stupid” to “useless.” Yet, in a campaign ad, she suddenly claimed she was tough on crime, taking on Mexican cartels and all that. The irony? The ad prominently displayed a border wall – you guessed it, a section of Trump’s wall in Arizona.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott isn’t letting Harris off the hook, either. He’s been calling her out for months, pointing out that if Harris and Biden were serious about border security, they’d stop fighting Texas in court. Abbott’s been vocal about the administration’s efforts to block Texas’ border security initiatives, including their lawsuits against SB 4 and Texas’ use of concertina wire and marine barriers.
Abbott’s had enough, and Texas isn’t waiting around. After the Biden-Harris team halted federal border wall construction, Texas took matters into its own hands. By June 2021, Abbott announced the state would build its own wall. Fast forward to December, and construction began in Rio Grande City.
Texas’ border wall is constructed of steel by the local firm McAllen Strong Steel. In contrast to the federal government, which allowed millions of dollars’ worth of steel to deteriorate unused, Texas completed its wall construction with remarkable efficiency. Texas Facilities Commission Chair Steven Alvis attributed this swift progress to the state’s resourcefulness and innovation.
Abbott’s been documenting the progress, posting videos of the wall construction in Maverick and Starr Counties. He’s even proclaimed that Texas is the only state in U.S. history to build its own border wall, saying they’ll protect Texans and Americans from the “Biden-Harris border crisis.”