A 2019 questionnaire from an important civil rights organization highlights Kamala Harris’s past support for leftist causes, such as taxpayer funded gender transition surgeries for federal prisoners and detained immigrants.

In a questionnaire that Harris completed as a presidential candidate in 2020 for the American Civil Liberties Union, she expressed her support for decriminalizing drug possession by federal agents for personal use and for sweeping cuts to Immigration and Custom Enforcement, including drastic reductions in ICE funding and expressing an open-ended commitment to “end” detention of immigrants.

A spokesperson for ACLU said that the questionnaire had been available since 2019.

The ACLU’s page source and website upload indicate that the questionnaire was re-posted last month, after Harris was declared the Democratic presumptive nominee. CNN could not find any questionnaires from other candidates in the 2020 election that had been reposted by the ACLU.

Harris acknowledged that her views have changed over the years, but she still holds onto core beliefs: “My values are unchanged,” she stated in an interview she gave to CNN last month.

The ACLU questionnaire sent to both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates in 2020 provides a record of Harris’ progressive stances. Joe Biden was one of the candidates who did not answer the questionnaire. Later, the ACLU ran radio ads criticizing Biden for his failure to respond.

ACLU volunteers also questioned candidates in public town halls, and posted their answers on their website.

A voter asked Harris if she supported adding a third gender to federal ID cards during a town hall in New Hampshire, in April 2019.

Harris replied “Yes” to applause. Harris stated, “I’ve been an ally my whole life and have always seen the issue of LGBTQ as a civil and human rights issue.

Harris’ response also attacked Trump’s attempts to ban transgender soldiers in the military. She called it “outrageous.”

Harris asked: “You’re going kick these people out of the military?”

The ACLU has told CNN that it does not plan to send Harris a new survey this election.

The Harris campaign refused to answer CNN’s questions about whether Harris still supported these positions. Instead, a “Harris Campaign Advisor” who was not named issued a statement that stated: “The Vice-President’s positions were shaped by the three years of effective government as part of Biden-Harris Administration.”

She declined to provide any further details about her position.

The article also quoted a Harris spokesperson who said, “As president, she will continue to take a pragmatic approach and focus on common sense solutions for the sake progress.”

Immigration

Harris’ new immigration rhetoric is a stark contrast to what she said at the ACLU.

She wrote that she would eliminate immigration detention centers (alongside private prisons) when asked about criminal Justice reform in the questionnaire. Harris said that she also supported reducing funding for ICE.

Harris wrote: “Our immigration detention system has gotten out of hand, and I think we need to stop the unfair imprisonment of thousands of people, families, and children.” I was one of first Senators to advocate a reduction in funding for ICE after President Trump’s election.

Harris seems to be referring to her 2017 efforts to oppose an increase in ICE funding during Trump’s presidency.

Harris wrote in her 2018 letter that she introduced the Detention Oversight, Not Expansion Act (DONE), which aims to “increase the oversight of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention facilities, reduce detention at least by 50%, and stop funding for new facility construction and expansion.”

Harris has also promised to stop the use of ICE Detainers – requests from ICE to state or local law enforcement agencies to hold a person up to 48 additional hours after their release date so ICE could take them into custody and deport them.

During the Trump Administration, ICE targeted undocumented migrants, including asylum seekers for detention or deportation. Under the “zero-tolerance” policy of the Trump administration, ICE increased its use of detention facilities, conducted more raids on workplaces, and arrested undocumented migrants without criminal records.

According to Syracuse University data, the Biden-Harris Administration continued to issue detainers, but their rate dropped sharply after the January 20, 2021, inauguration.

Harris noted that, as California Attorney General, she had also issued guidelines saying that local law enforcement wouldn’t have to comply with detainers.

As president, I’ll focus enforcement on improving public safety and not breaking apart immigrant family units. She wrote that ICE must obtain a warrant if there is probable cause to stop using detainers.

ICE clashed repeatedly with so-called sanctuary towns, which limited their cooperation under Trump’s presidency. The Trump administration responded by withholding federal grants and increasing efforts to bypass local authorities in order to detain undocumented migrants.

Harris, as San Francisco’s district attorney, supported immigrants by defending San Francisco’s sanctuary status. She said at the time: “We are a refuge city, we will always be a sanctuary.”

Harris supported a policy which sent undocumented immigrants who were arrested on suspicion of felony charges to federal authorities, regardless if the juveniles were convicted.

Harris, as California’s attorney general targeted criminal gangs operating across the US-Mexico Border. She expressed her support for undocumented migrants who were deemed to not pose a threat to public safety, and she opposed Obama’s policies that could have sent non-criminal illegal immigrants into deportation procedures.

Transgender rights

Harris wrote that she also supported the funding of gender-transition surgeries for federal prisoners and detained immigrants.

Harris was asked whether, as President, she would “executive power to ensure that all transgender people and non-binary individuals who depend on the state’s medical care, including those in detention centers and prisons, will have access comprehensive treatment for gender transition including all surgical care.”

Harris responded, “Yes.”

It is vital that transgender people who depend on the state to provide care get the treatment they require, including access to