Fact Check: Harris Once Said, 'An Undocumented Immigrant Is Not a Criminal'?

Claim:

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris once said, "An undocumented immigrant is not a criminal."

Rating:

Correct Attribution ( About this rating? )

On Aug. 29, 2024, Elon Musk reposted an X post with the caption: " Please note that this is an actual statement from Kamala." Musk's post received more than 96.9 million views and 512,000 likes, as of this writing.

The X post in question is indeed authentic; the official @KamalaHarris X account originally published it on April 21, 2017, as part of a longer thread on the topic of immigration and citizenship. The full thread is as follows:

An undocumented immigrant is not a criminal.

Give people a path to citizenship. The vast majority of folks we're talking about are living a lawful life and paying taxes.

It's ludicrous to say we're going to deport 12 million people. Now how are you going to do that?

We are not a society that is going to stand for tearing families apart. We are not going to buy into this administration's fear mongering.

Musk responded to his own post with a follow-up :

(X user @elonmusk)

Several users responded to Musk saying that Harris was technically correct from a legal standpoint.

In sum, because the quote was authentic and the official @KamalaHarris X account posted it, we rate this claim as "Correct Attribution."

Sources:

Harris, Kamala. 'An Undocumented Immigrant Is Not a Criminal.' X.Com , 21 Apr. 2017, https://x.com/KamalaHarris/status/855566507526565888.

staff, C. N. N. 'READ: Harris and Walz's Exclusive Joint Interview with CNN | CNN Politics'. CNN , 30 Aug. 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/29/politics/harris-walz-interview-read-transcript/index.html.