Kamala Harris wants Dreamers to work in Congress
POLITICO:
Kamala Harris is going all in on immigration reform.
On Wednesday, the 2020 contender will introduce legislation with Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-Nev.) that would make Dreamers eligible to work as staffers or interns in Congress. It’s the latest move by the California Democrat to seize on an issue that her rival Beto O’Rourke has made his calling card — and to advocate for a Democratic constituency that’s often reduced to a congressional bargaining chip.
Harris’ proposal, which would lift what immigrant-rights supporters consider to be a mean-spirited ban on Dreamers working in Congress, comes after Harris traveled to Latino-heavy Nevada this week for her second visit there as a presidential candidate. She also went to Texas recently, in part to build support among Latino voters.
For Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India whose campaign has distributed headsets at rallies to translate her speeches into Spanish, the southwestern sojourns are also an attempt to blunt O’Rourke, a fluent Spanish speaker who has gone toe-to-toe with Donald Trump on the U.S.-Mexico border.