In 2018, Kamala Harris co-sponsored the DONE Act with Rep. Pramila Jayapal, since leading to notable backlash. The act aimed to reform immigration detention, potentially releasing over 20,000 immigrants into the U.S. The DONE Act sought to stop ICE from expanding detention facilities, regardless of immigration levels.
Harris had criticized ICE’s methods and called for more oversight of conditions deemed inhumane. “ICE’s indiscriminate approach to immigration enforcement continues to sow fear and anxiety in communities across the nation and strict oversight is long overdue,” Harris said at the time.
“It is unconscionable to subject detainees to inhumane conditions that include cases of unchecked sexual abuse, outright medical negligence, lack of access to counsel, and in some cases, even death,” she said.
“It’s time to end the expansion of these facilities that divert these resources to address true public safety threats,” Harris pressed.
The plan required a 50% reduction in detention space, meaning about 21,000 detainees would be released with federal monitoring. Congress had funded 42,000 ICE detention beds at the time.
Critics National Immigration Center for Enforcement (NICE) president RJ Hauman argued the plan would end interior immigration enforcement by reducing detention. He noted it might exempt some immigrants from detention under future DHS leadership.
“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,” Hauman said. “Interior enforcement would in fact be done and nullified if she takes office.”
“Her DONE Act would cut detention space as criminal aliens continue to roam free, ensure detention is no longer mandatory for illegal aliens, and actually prohibit the detention of illegal aliens deemed ‘vulnerable’ by the DHS secretary — a rubber stamp one of her nominees is sure to use,” Hauman said.
The proposal resembled Obama-era initiatives, aiming to revive the Family Case Management Program, providing services to released migrants. Harris hasn’t mentioned the DONE Act much in recent campaigns.
Harris also expressed intent during a previous presidential bid to close privately run detention centers, which house most DHS detainees. The proposal aligned with her broader opposition to the current system.
