Kamala Harris' record on immigration thrust back in the spotlight

WASHINGTON (TND) — As she hits the campaign trail as the expected Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris will begin to receive tough questions about an issue many Americans have called the most important U.S. problem when they head to the polls in November: immigration and the border.

For Harris, it’s a record that dates back to her time as Attorney General of San Francisco.

During that time, a job training program she oversaw, called “Back on Track” was blamed for allowing a 20-year-old illegal immigrant from Honduras, arrested for two previouscrimes, to stay out of prison.

Alexander Izaguirre was later convicted in the brutal attack of a young woman, Amanda Keifer, who said she now supports former President Donald Trump,telling ABC News, "If people who committed crimes were allowed to stay out of prison to train for jobs they couldn't legally hold, I think most Americans would disapprove of that."

Later as the Attorney General of California, she came under fire when Kate Steinle was shot and killed while walking with her father in San Francisco in 2015.

The suspect, Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate, was acquitted by a jury in Nov. 2017 on murder and manslaughter charges but was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

At a rally in Minnesota over the weekend, Trump said, "She voted in favor of deadly sanctuary cities where you protect the criminals at all costs."

As a U.S. Senator, she defended her state’s sanctuary policies, which we asked her about in 2018.

"California voters have made a decision about what they want and the will of California voters should be supported," she said during a hallway interview with Sinclair.

More recently, as the number of undocumented immigrants showing up at the U.S. border started to skyrocket, President Biden tasked her with improving the situation.

"I’ve asked her, the VP because she’s the most qualified person to do it to lead our efforts with Mexico and the northern triangle," President Biden said in March 2021.

Her efforts focused on the root causes of migration though she was widely criticized for not visiting the U.S. Southern border.

During a June 2021 interview on NBC, Lester Holt asked, "Do you have any plans to visit the border?"

She responded, 'I'm here in Guatemala today - at some point, " later adding, "We’ve been to the border."

When Holt said "You haven’t been to the border," she said, "And I haven’t been to Europe."

But in the last year, the Biden Administration has cracked down, with stricter policies on who can ask for asylum credited with major drops in illegal crossings.

During a Press Briefing last week, White House Press SecretaryKarine Jean-Pierre said, “It’s down by 55%. Not because of Republicans in Congress and what they did, it’s because what this President and this Vice President did.”