How does Harris’ criminal justice vision compare to the needs of Milwaukee?

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris addresses the crowd during a campaign rally, Friday, Sept. 20, at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum at Alliant Energy Center in Madison. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)

Vice President Kamala Harris has identified four major criminal justice reforms her administration would focus on if elected president, all of which impact Milwaukee.

NNS takes a look at the importance of each of these issues: gun violence and crime; opioids and fentanyl; border security; and equality under the law.

Gun violence and crime

In March, Harris called on all states to enact a “red flag law,” which permits state courts to order the temporary seizure of firearms from individuals deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. The Harris-Biden administration also created a national resource center to support states in that effort.

Harris, a gun owner herself, has also worked to tighten loopholes for sellers of guns online and at shows.

According to data from the Milwaukee Police Department, there were 172 homicides in the city in 2023 and 215 in 2022, the most homicides ever in a year in the city. Many died from gun violence. In addition, the city experienced 837 nonfatal shootings last year and 876 in 2022, according to MPS data.

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson has been a strong proponent for stricter gun control laws. In September, after multiple officers were shot in the city, he once again called for stricter gun laws.

“Nothing has been done in Wisconsin and nothing has been done in these other states, where unfortunately, we’re seeing whether it’s police officers being shot at or students shot at in school, nothing is happening,” said Johnson during a press conference held on the 5300 block of North 91st Street.

Opioids and fentanyl

In late September, Harris said she would double the resources of the U.S. Department of Justice to help it stem the flow of fentanyl by cracking down on cartels. Cartels, along with China, are the main sources of fentanyl, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

Both former President Donald Trump and Harris have vowed to be more aggressive on fentanyl through tightened border policies that slow traffickers. Harris has been criticized by Trump for the increase in border crossings and influx of fentanyl during the Biden Administration, although synthetic opioid overdose deaths also increased under Trump’s presidency.

Milwaukee County has been plagued by high levels of drug overdose deaths, most caused by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is often mixed with other illegal street drugs, according to elected officials, substance use treatment experts and others.

Border security

In addition to addressing the nation’s opioid and fentanyl crisis, Harris vows to address problems with immigration and our national borders, which are not completely different problems, according to the Harris campaign.

Her campaign website, for example, celebrates her work as attorney general of California in pursuing drug cartels, as well as human traffickers, who are using the U.S.-Mexico border.

In a February statement, Harris also said cities are ill-equipped to address sudden increases of immigrants and, at the same time, new pathways to citizenship need to be created.

Many border-related problems could be fixed by addressing the root causes of migration, she said.

However, R. Timothy Muth, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, of Wisconsin, sees the border as a different issue from that of the status of immigrants.

Regarding the border, the ACLU has fought both the Trump and Biden administrations for what it says are inappropriate restrictions on people’s right to asylum.

U.S. law grants a person asylum, letting them stay legally in the country, if they have experienced or fear persecution in their home country because of factors such as race, nationality, religion and political beliefs.

“The policies of both the Trump and the Biden administrations have been illegally denying that right,” Muth said.

Harris supports legislation that includes these same inappropriate restrictions on the right to asylum, said Muth, adding that the ACLU would continue to fight against them if Harris is elected.

On this issue of immigrants, who are already here, what is most likely relevant for Milwaukeeans is not so much who Harris is but who she is not, Muth said.

“She’s not Trump, and his plan for a massive deportation policy,” Muth said. “The difference is about whether we will again see I.C.E. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) picking people up off the streets of Milwaukee.”

I.C.E. arrests in the country increased immediately upon Trump’s 2016 presidency, according to an agency report, and led to fear of deportation and family separation in Milwaukee.

Equality under the law

Harris’ references on her campaign website to nobody being “above the law” are aimed directly at Trump and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Trump was found guilty on 34 charges of falsifying business records and faces a total of 12 other charges across two jurisdictions. But he has made several comments about how his status as both president and former president, provides unique legal protections.

“ … I have the right to do whatever I want,” said Trump during a conservative youth conference in 2019.

According to a Marquette University Law School poll, 68% of Wisconsin’s registered voters believe Trump has behaved very or somewhat corruptly.

Chad Oldfather, professor of law at Marquette, said that equality under the law affects everyone in the country, regardless of their status.

“It (the law) has never been perfect and never will be perfect … but it is important that the legal system shows itself to be as even handed and dispassionate as it can be,” said Oldfather.