When the headline “Harris Flip-Flops on the Border Wall” hit at Axios Tuesday, the Trump campaign pounced.
Republicans released a litany of previous statements from Vice President Kamala Harris dismissing a border wall as “un-American,” a “medieval vanity project” and “a complete waste of taxpayer money [that] won’t make us any safer.”
So what happened? When did the newly-minted Democratic presidential nominee pull a 180 on putting up a border wall, and why?
Actually, she may not have.
Axios’ reporting is based on Harris’ support for the bipartisan immigration bill that includes border wall funding. She’s also running a TV ad highlighting sections of border wall built by the Trump administration.
Axios used that information to report Harris backs funding a border wall, not any public statement from Harris on the matter.
In fact, Axios added, “Harris advisers note that the bipartisan border proposal didn’t include any new money to continue building the wall. It just extended the timeline to spend funds that had been appropriated during Trump’s last year as president.”
And the Washington Times reports her campaign says Harris “supports a broad immigration compromise that could include wall construction at some strategic points… Her campaign says that is completely different from Mr. Trump’s vision of hundreds of miles of border covered by a wall.”
So, what is Harris’ actual position on building more border wall? Does she believe physical barriers like fences and walls are an effective weapon in the fight against illegal immigration?
The Trump campaign says no. “This is a preposterous and false claim,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “Kamala’s record proves she is pro-open border.”
If Harris’ position on the border wall appears hard to pin down, she’s not alone.
Hours after the Axios report dropped, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) targeted Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) citing his statements opposing a border wall.
“I wouldn’t vote for any spending plan that includes the border wall,” Pappas declared on NHPR. “I think that’s irresponsible. It’s an idea that doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense.”
And in a 2018 WMUR interview, Pappas said, “I don’t think a big concrete wall the entire length of our southern border makes any sense geographically, or in terms of security reasons.”
In fact, one of the very first votes Pappas cast as a congressman was against border wall funding.
“It’s clear San Francisco radical Kamala Harris doesn’t actually believe in securing the border, and neither does extreme Democrat Chris Pappas,” the NRCC said Tuesday.
But in 2023, Pappas appeared to reverse himself, co-authoring a bill asking the Department of Homeland Security to identify “which type of physical barrier” would be best to “maintain operational control” of the southern border.
Does that mean if DHS said it needed more wall, Pappas would support it? He declined to respond to questions on the subject.
Also in 2023, Pappas and his Granite State colleague, Democratic U.S. Rep Annie Kuster, voted to block a GOP-sponsored border bill that would order construction of the southern border wall to resume.
Kuster announced this spring she is retiring.
The two Democrats vying to succeed her both support the same bipartisan bill Harris backs. Do they support building more wall? As with Harris, the answer is unclear.
Former Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern called the bill “an important first step,” but said he doesn’t agree with everything in it. Former Biden administration staffer Maggie Goodlander says she worked on the failed bipartisan bill while in Washington.
Asked about their support for the border wall, both Democrats had the same response as Vice President Harris.
They declined to answer the question.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), the Republican who helped craft the bipartisan bill, says the attempt by Harris to fudge the border wall provisions won’t work.
“[The bill] requires the Trump border wall,” he told Axios.
And while the Biden administration had to sign off on the deal, Lankford said Harris played no role.
“We never saw any vice president staff here,” Lankford said. “She was a Johnny-come-never.”
