CLAIM: Vice President Kamala Harris suggested during Tuesday night’s presidential debate that former President Donald Trump single-handedly squashed a bill to expand immigration that Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) put forth.
VERDICT: Mostly false. Though Trump did oppose the bill from the start, Republicans and Democrats alike in the House and Senate voiced fierce opposition to the bill.
“The United States Congress, including some of the most conservative members of the United States Senate, came up with a border security bill, which I supported,” Harris said.
“You know what happened to that bill? Donald Trump got on the phone, called up some folks in Congress, and said, ‘Kill the bill,'” Harris said.
Harris’s characterization of what happened with the bill is mostly fiction.
In early January, the Immigration Accountability Project helped leak the details of the bill to the American public — noting that it increased legal immigration levels while expediting work permits for migrants released into the United States and, most infamously, permitted tens of thousands of migrants to cross the border every week before the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could use any type of border controls.
While Trump urged Republicans to oppose the bill due to its provisions, House and Senate Republicans had already started opposing the bill when details leaked. Likewise, House and Senate Democrats began opposing the bill, as well, because it did not include amnesty for illegal aliens.
Most prominently, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) opposed the bill, along with Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Laphonza Butler (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and even Sinema.
“I will not vote for the bill coming to the Senate floor this week because it includes several provisions that will violate Americans’ shared values. These provisions would not make us safe,” Booker said in May before the bill failed in a vote.
In early February, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said it would oppose the bill because it lacked amnesty for illegal aliens.
“From what I have read so far, the Senate-negotiated deal to address our challenges at the border fails to meet the moment,” Rep. Nanette Barragan (D-CA), chair of the caucus, said at the time.
Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), who serves as whip for the caucus, said the bill’s failure to include amnesty for “all DREAMers is unacceptable.”
“… this is not real reform,” Garcia said. “Real reform would include a pathway to citizenship for ALL DREAMers. With this bill, Dreamers have been betrayed by the Senate. Americans have been clear: DREAMers need to stay.”
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
