During the debate, however, Harris railed against Obama’s use of Secure Communities because, well, “The policy was to allow deportation of people who by ICE’s own definition were non-criminals.” (Actually, that’s also the definition of Thursday night’s debate team, as they all said they’d like to make unauthorized border crossing a civil offense instead of a crime.)

Mark Krikorian of the pro-enforcement Center for Immigration Studies observed that Harris referred to rape as a “real crime”:

“That’s a standard sanctuary city line,” says Krikorian. “At this point, it’s now Democratic Party orthodoxy that only people that have broken ‘real’ laws should be subject to deportation.”

And those crimes would have to be tried and convicted and have been committed recently to warrant removal. The “tool in the toolbox” of being able to deport an undesirable newcomer who’s not supposed to be in the United States in the first place, Krikorian warned, would disappear.