Vice President Kamala Harris has come under fire for featuring images of former President Donald Trump’s border wall in her recent campaign advertisements. This move has raised questions about her stance on border security and immigration policies, given her previous vocal opposition to the wall.

CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront segment on Wednesday, September 4, 2024 highlighted the apparent contradiction between Harris’ past statements and her current campaign strategy. CNN’s KFile senior editor Andrew Kaczynski reported finding 50 instances of Harris criticizing Trump’s border wall, making her current use of it in campaign materials particularly noteworthy.

Harris’ 2019 book, “The Truths We Hold,” strongly condemned the border wall. She wrote that it was “not only useless but that it would be a monument standing in opposition to not just everything I value, but to the fundamental values upon which this country was built.” Harris also argued that the wall symbolically tells the world, “KEEP OUT.”

During a public event in 2019, Harris referred to the border wall as a “vanity project” and accused Trump of contriving “a national crisis around his big distraction.” She consistently portrayed the wall as a misuse of taxpayer money and an ineffective solution to border security concerns.

However, Harris’ recent campaign ad features a portion of the very wall she once condemned. Kaczynski pointed out that the section of the wall shown in the ad was actually constructed during the Trump administration.

The shift in Harris’ position appears to be part of a broader change in her approach to immigration policy. As vice president, Harris has adopted a more centrist stance on border security issues. This includes supporting increased border security measures and policies that make it more difficult for migrants to seek asylum, a stark contrast to her earlier promises to “honor the process” of asylum and protect vulnerable migrants.

The Biden administration has continued some border wall construction and implemented policies that restrict asylum. Notably, Harris has yet to publicly comment on these actions, which seem to contradict her previous positions.

This apparent shift in Harris’ stance has not gone unnoticed by political opponents. The Trump campaign has seized on the issue, with former senior advisor Jason Miller describing Harris’ change in position as “total bulls—.”

However, it’s important to note that Harris has not explicitly stated a change in her position on the border wall. The controversy stems largely from her campaign’s visual choices and her support for a bipartisan border security bill that included provisions for using some funds previously appropriated for the border wall during the Trump administration.

This bill, which ultimately failed in the Senate, was a compromise that included various border security measures beyond wall funding. It also proposed provisions for more asylum lawyers and judges, as well as the authority to shut down the border if migrant crossings exceeded a certain threshold.

The Harris campaign has portrayed her as a “border state prosecutor” and highlighted her support for increasing the number of Border Patrol agents. This reframing of Harris’ image on border issues reflects the changing political landscape on immigration, with Trump’s policies having significantly impacted the national debate.

As the 2024 election approaches, Harris’ use of border wall imagery in her campaign ads appears to be an attempt to strengthen her image on border security issues. This strategy, however, has opened her up to criticism from both sides of the political aisle.