Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Harris Campaign Spox Refuses To Walk Back Kamala Harris’ Support For Funding Trans Surgeries For Illegal Immigrants

[Screenshot/ABC News]

Harris-Walz campaign communications director Michael Tyler refused to walk back Vice President Kamala Harris’ previous support for funding transgender surgeries for illegal immigrants and cutting funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Harris stated in a 2019 questionnaire by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that she supported ending immigration detention facilities, ending the use of ICE detainers and using taxpayer funds to cover the costs of gender transition surgeries for illegal immigrants. Tyler said on ABC News Live that reports about the previous questionnaire is a “complete distraction” from the American peoples’ current concerns.

“[The questionnaire] shows Harris voiced support for cutting funding for ICE and using taxpayer money to fund transgender surgery for detained migrants in 2019. Does the vice president still support those positions and do you expect her to address them tonight?” ABC News host Diane Macedo asked.

“Listen, I think these old questionnaires are a complete distraction from the task at hand right now from I think the vice president, and frankly the American people, are actually asking about,” Tyler said. “What the American people are concerned about and what they’re asking about is who’s gonna solve for border security, and on that issue, there’s a very clear choice here.”

Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson refuses to walk back Harris’ past support for funding trans surgeries for illegal immigrants pic.twitter.com/HbQkgbnTIZ

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 10, 2024

Harris touted her record in the questionnaire about pushing for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide transgender surgeries for inmates, calling the procedure a “medical necessity.”

“Transition treatment is a medical necessity, and I will direct all federal agencies responsible for providing essential medical care to deliver transition treatment,” Harris wrote.

The vice president previously defended the California Department of Corrections’ attempts to deny these surgeries during her time as California attorney general, according to CNN.

Harris has changed several of her key policy positions pertaining to immigration, fracking and policing during her 2024 presidential campaign.

While a U.S. senator, Harris co-sponsored the Green New Deal and backed the abolishment of the filibuster in order to get the legislation passed. She told CNN during a 2019 town hall there is “no question” that she supports a ban on fracking, but later told CNN’s Dana Bash on Aug. 29 that she would not ban the practice if elected president.

Harris further supported granting healthcare coverage to illegal immigrants during her 2020 campaign, compared ICE to the Ku Klux Klan and called for its abolishment in 2018. President Joe Biden appointed the vice president to address “root causes” of the southern border crisis in the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico in March 2021, though she only visited the border once and allegedly never met with former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott while he was in office.

Harris has since attempted to rebrand herself as a tough-on-the-border candidate by claiming in several campaign ads that she intends to crack down on illegal immigration by adding Border Patrol agents on the border.

Harris supported the Defund the Police movement that followed the death of George Floyd in 2020, where she called it “wrong and backward” to suggest more policing is the solution to crime, according to an MSNBC interview from 2020. The Biden-Harris campaign walked back her support for the movement by stating she opposes slashing funding for police during the 2020 general election season.

While Harris is currently attempting to appeal to the political center, she was rated the second most liberal senator behind Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 116th Congress, which ran from Jan. 3, 2019, to Jan. 3, 2021.

Harris co-signed a “Medicare for All” bill sponsored by Sanders, which aimed to abolish private health insurance and create a single-payer system where the federal government is the sole provider for health insurance coverage. She later introduced her own “Medicare for All” bill that would allow individuals to keep their private health insurance.