Current Vice President Kamala Harris has been a consistent champion for refugees from the beginning of her career. As the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, she has gone above and beyond to make herself and her office available to refugees. Both as California’s attorney general and as a U.S. Senator, Harris showed up at pro-refugee protests, rallies, and vigils. As Senator, she co-sponsored five pieces of pro-refugee legislation and signed multiple pro-refugee letters, including one that she wrote and encouraged other Senators to sign that opposed Trump’s reductions to refugee resettlement. As Vice President, Harris and President Biden have restored the refugee admission program (now on track to resettle the most refugees in 30 years), launched the groundbreaking new private sponsorship program Welcome Corps, extended humanitarian parole to keep families together, and demonstrated willingness to work with partners to continue to improve refugee resettlement.
Kamala Harris’ chosen running mate, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota has also been a critical ally to refugee communities and elected leaders in his state. In the past 5 years as Governor, Walz has refuted Trump’s rhetoric, wrote to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in defense of refugee communities integral to Minnesota, and supported legislation to improve access to driver’s licenses regardless of citizenship status. In a previous scorecard released by Voice for Refuge, Tim Walz scored a 12/15, ranking him a pro-refugee champion among governors.
On the other hand, during President Trump’s last term, Refugee admission goals were cut to record lows, a Muslim ban was instituted under executive order and Trump, and family separation at the border was official policy. As a candidate this election cycle, Donald Trump has promised to reinstate and expand “Muslim” bans to include “ideological screening”, begin “mass deportations”, and potentially dismantle resettlement as a part of Project 2025 plans to reorganize and reduce federal departments.
Trump’s chosen running mate is also an anti-refugee extremist. In JD Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign in which he gained his current role as the Junior Senator from Ohio, Vance argued for completing the border wall and advanced the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, spreading lies about immigration being an “invasion”. As a Senator, Vance co-sponsored S.Res.362, a resolution to allow governors to illegally deport migrants and asylum seekers, he co-sponsored S.2824 known as the “Secure the Border Act of 2023”, and has scored an “A” by known immigration hardline organization, NumbersUSA for his votes on anti-asylum and anti-humanitarian assistance bills.
| Record on: | Kamala Harris | Donald Trump |
| Refugee Resettlement | As Vice President Harris has joined Biden in restoring refugee admissions and improving refugee processing. As Senator, she led a letter urging more refugees to be resettled. | Cut refugee admissions by 80% in his first term, decimated refugee processing infrastructure, and is likely to further dismantle refugee resettlement. Wants to instate an “ideological screening” for all applicants. |
| Muslim Bans, African Bans, Refugee Bans, Immigration Bans, Asylum Bans | Opposed the bans, co-sponsored legislation to repeal them as Senator. | Has promised to reinstate and expand travel and Muslim bans; “bigger than before and much stronger than before”. |
| Family unity and re-unification | As a Senator, Harris criticized family separation, noting it’s “irreparable harm” and joined other Senators to introduce the REUNITE act to expedite family reunification. | Turned families away, separated children and parents exercising their legal right to seek asylum, and promised “mass deportation” and raids. |
| Unaccompanied Children | Terminated a Trump-era program that extended wait times under the guise of additional “vetting of sponsors” that resulted in children languishing in detention centers. | Under the Trump Administration, unaccompanied children spent twice as long in government shelters as they do today. |
| Temporary Protective Status (TPS) | President Biden and Vice President Harris restored TPS protections that Trump attempted to terminate, and has expanded TPS to cover nationals from 16 countries | Revoked protection for over 300,000 TPS holders from many nationalities, in an attempt to force them to return to unsafe situations (stopped by legal injunction). |
| State and Local Refugee Resettlement Ban | Supports continued resettlement support offered by on-the-ground partner organizations in various states. | Signed an executive order to allow states and localities to reject refugees (which, the court halted). |
| Talking about refugees, asylum seekers, and other immigrants | Has and will continue to actively listen to the voices and concerns of refugees and asylum seekers, as she did as California’s AG and in the U.S. Senate. | Uses incendiary rhetoric and racist lies for his own political gain, claiming immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” |
| Result: | Pro-Refugee Partner We Can Work With | Anti-Refugee Extremist |
Sources
apnews.com/article/refugees-resettlement-immigration-biden-trump/
https://welcomecorps.org/
www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/1/16554958/kamala-harris-immigration-california
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/trump-cuts-refugee-cap/2020/10/01/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/17/trump-muslim-ban-gaza-refugees
https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/316644-kamala-harris-make-no-mistake-this-is-a-muslim-ban/
https://www.vox.com/politics/24080265/trump-immigration-policies-2024
https://www.cortezmasto.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cortez-masto-harris-merkley-reintroduce-bill-to-reunify-and-protect-immigrant-families/
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/news/families-intentionally-separated-under-trump-administration-receive-much-needed-settlement
https://newrepublic.com/post/183987/rnc-celebrates-trump-horrific-campaign-promise-immigration
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/about/ucs/facts-and-data
https://www.dhs.gov/news/2021/03/12/hhs-and-dhs-joint-statement-termination-2018-agreement
https://www.aclusocal.org/en/press-releases/tps-holders-and-lawyers-respond-dhs-announcement-rescinding-trump-tps-terminations
https://www.justice.gov/eoir/temporary-protected-status
https://www.npr.org/2020/01/15/796658527/judge-blocks-trumps-executive-order-allowing-local-officials-to-reject-refugees
https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/trump-2025-radical-plan-second-term
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24088042-project-2025s-mandate-for-leadership-the-conservative-promise
