Harris once sponsored controversial bill to eliminate DHS detention of migrants

Vice President Kamala Harris has long been scrutinized for her actions -- or lack thereof -- when it comes the crisis at America's southern border, particularly now that she is seeking election to the highest office in the land.

As Breitbart reports, new attention is being given to the fact that as a senator, Harris sponsored a bill meant to eliminate the ability of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to detail illegal migrants – a plan that would have released roughly 20,000 such individuals into the country's interior.

DONE Act, explained

The legislation at issue, the Detention Oversight Not Expansion (DONE) Act, was sponsored by Harris together with far-left Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state.

According to Breitbart, the purpose of the bill was to curtail the power held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to detain migrants.

The measure also would require “various reports to Congress, including a DHS plan for decreasing the number of immigration detention beds and implementing community-based alternatives to detention.”

At the time of the bill's introduction, Harris declared, “ICE's indiscriminate approach to immigration enforcement continues to sow fear and anxiety in communities across the nation and strict oversight is long overdue.”

She continued, “It is unconscionable to subject detainees to inhumane conditions that include caes of unchecked sexual abuse, outright medical negligence, lack of access to counsel, and in some cases, even death. It's time to end the expansion of these facilities that divert these resources to address true public safety threats.”

Harris' ever-evolving positions

Whereas during her tenure in the Senate, Harris appeared intent on loosening controls at the border, her positions seem to have moderated – at least publicly – amid her campaign for the presidency.

Indeed, during a recent CNN town hall, Harris seemed reluctant to completely distance herself from the concept of expanding the border wall championed by Donald Trump during his time in the Oval Office.

However, according to one expert on immigration, Harris' conduct as a lawmaker ought to be taken as indicative of where she would like things to go if she becomes president.

RJ Hauman, president of the National Immigration Center for Enforcement (NICE) said to Breitbart, “Kamala Harris has been tight-lipped about her plans to enforce federal immigration laws, but the name of one of this proposal, the DONE Act, is telling.”

“Interior enforcement would in fact be done and nullified if she takes office,” Haman opined, hopefully reminding voters that when it comes to politics, past often truly is prologue.