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As Kamala Harris pivots to the political center in her campaign for president, a 2019 questionnaire from a leading civil rights organization spotlights her past support for left-wing causes such as taxpayer-funded gender transition surgeries for detained immigrants and federal prisoners.
In an American Civil Liberties Union questionnaire then-Sen. Harris filled out as a candidate for president in 2020, she also expressed support for decriminalizing federal drug possession for personal use, and for sweeping reductions to Immigration and Custom Enforcement operations, including drastic cuts in ICE funding and an open-ended pledge to “end” immigration detention.
The questionnaire has received scant media attention and a spokesperson for the ACLU claimed it had remained live from 2019.
But the ACLU’s website upload and page source indicate the questionnaire was reposted last month after Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee. CNN was unable to find questionnaires filled out by other candidates from the 2020 campaign that the ACLU had reposted.
Harris has acknowledged that some of her stances have evolved over time but that she holds core beliefs that remain unshakable: “My values have not changed,” she said in an interview with CNN last month.
The ACLU questionnaire, which was sent to all Democratic and Republican candidates during the 2020 presidential campaign, provides a clear record of Harris’ progressive stances. Some candidates did not respond to the questionnaire, including Joe Biden. The ACLU later ran radio ads attacking Biden for not answering.
The ACLU also had volunteers question candidates at public town halls and later posted videos on their website of their responses.
During one town hall event in New Hampshire in April 2019, Harris was asked by a voter if she supports adding a “third gender” to federal identification cards.
“Sure,” Harris answered to a round of applause from the crowd. “I have my entire life and career been an ally and I see the issue of LGBTQ rights as a fundamental civil rights and human rights issue, period,” Harris said.
In her response, Harris also attacked the Trump administration’s efforts to ban transgender troops in the military, calling it “outrageous.”
“These are people who have decided they are willing to sacrifice and serve for the sake of our democracy and our freedom, and you’re going to kick them out of the military?” Harris said.
The ACLU told CNN it doesn’t plan on sending Harris a new questionnaire this election.
The Harris campaign did not answer questions from CNN on whether she continued to support these positions and instead provided a statement attributable only to an unnamed “Harris campaign advisor” saying, “The Vice President’s positions have been shaped by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris Administration.”
They declined to elaborate on what her positions were.
They also provided a comment attributed to a Harris campaign spokesperson saying, “As President, she will take that same pragmatic approach, focusing on common-sense solutions for the sake of progress.”
Harris’ starkest contrast to her current positions might be her new tough immigration rhetoric versus what she told the ACLU.
When asked about criminal justice reform on the questionnaire, she wrote she would end immigration detention facilities (along with private prisons). Harris also said she supported decreasing funding for ICE.
“Our immigrant detention system is out of control, and I believe we must end the unfair incarceration of thousands of individuals, families and children,” Harris wrote. “I was one of the first Senators after President Trump was elected to advocate for a decrease in funding to ICE.”
Harris appears to be citing her efforts in 2017 to oppose increased ICE funding under Trump.
Harris wrote that in 2018 she had introduced the Detention Oversight, Not Expansion (DONE) Act to, “increase oversight of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities, slash detention by at least 50%, and halt funding for the construction or expansion of new facilities.”
Harris also pledged to end the use of ICE detainers – requests by ICE to local or state law enforcement to hold an individual up to 48 hours beyond their release time so ICE can take them into custody for possible deportation.
During the Trump administration, ICE aggressively targeted undocumented immigrants, including asylum seekers, for detention and deportation. Under the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, ICE expanded its use of detention centers, conducted more workplace raids and increased arrests of undocumented immigrants without criminal records.
The Biden-Harris administration continued to issue detainer requests, but the rate fell sharply in the months after the January 2021 inauguration, according to data from Syracuse University.
Harris also noted that as California attorney general, she had issued guidance saying local law enforcement would not have to comply with such detainers.
“As president, I will focus enforcement on increasing public safety, not tearing apart immigrant families. This includes requiring ICE to obtain a warrant where probable cause exists as to end the use of detainers,” she wrote.
ICE had clashed with many so-called sanctuary cities that limited their cooperation during Trump’s presidency. In response, the Trump administration attempted to withhold certain federal grants and increased efforts to bypass local authorities to detain and deport undocumented immigrants.
As San Francisco district attorney, Harris supported immigrant rights by defending the city’s sanctuary status, stating at the time, “We are a sanctuary city, a city of refuge, and we always will be.”
However, Harris also backed a policy that turned over undocumented juvenile immigrants to federal authorities if they were arrested for suspected felonies, regardless of conviction.
As California attorney general, Harris targeted criminal gangs that operated across the US-Mexico border. She also expressed support for undocumented immigrants deemed not to pose a public safety threat, and opposed Obama-era policies that could send non-criminal undocumented immigrants into deportation proceedings.
Harris also wrote that she supported taxpayer funding of gender transition surgeries for detained immigrants and federal prisoners.
Harris was asked if, as president, she would use “executive authority to ensure that transgender and non-binary people who rely on the state for medical care – including those in prison and immigration detention – will have access to comprehensive treatment associated with gender transition, including all necessary surgical care.”
Harris replied, “Yes.”
“It is important that transgender individuals who rely on the state for care receive the treatment they need, which includes access to treatment associated with gender transition,” Harris wrote in a reply expanding on her answer. “That’s why, as Attorney General, I pushed the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide gender transition surgery to state inmates,” she wrote.
Harris explained that she supported granting prisoners and detainees access to “surgical care” for gender transition.
“Transition treatment is a medical necessity, and I will direct all federal agencies responsible for providing essential medical care to deliver transition treatment,” she wrote.
The first-ever gender-affirming surgery in federal prison occurred only recently in 2022 after years of legal battles.
Harris’ answer marked a change from her previous position as California attorney general, when she defended the California Department of Corrections’ attempts to deny gender transition surgery.
While running for president in 2019, Harris faced criticism over that previous position.
At a news conference and later a LGBTQ forum that year, Harris said defending the policy was “contrary to my beliefs” but she was obligated to defend policy while she “worked behind the scenes” to change it.
Harris also indicated she supported the decriminalization of all drug possession for personal use.
While Harris indicated she supported drug legalization, her answer focused solely on marijuana, citing her co-sponsorship of the Marijuana Justice Act, which sought to legalize federal marijuana.
She explained that drug use should be treated as a public health issue rather than a criminal one.
“Throughout my career, I have supported treating drug addiction as a public health issue, focusing on rehabilitation over incarceration for drug-related offenses,” she wrote.
During her 2019 campaign, Harris admitted to smoking marijuana in the past in calling for its legalization.
