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Vice President Harris, each as senator and vp, has brought on controversy with Homeland Safety businesses, evaluating one to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), and fueling a since-discredited narrative about Border Patrol brokers on horseback allegedly whipping migrants.
ICE and KKK
At a November 2018 affirmation listening to, then-Sen. Harris requested Ronald Vitiello, who was former President Trump’s nominee to steer Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), if he was “conscious of the notion” of parallels between ICE and the KKK.
Harris had highlighted a tweet from Vitiello from 2015 by which he mentioned the Democratic Occasion was similar to a “neo-Klanist” entity. Vitiello apologized and admitted that these phrases have been offensive.
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Vice President Harris (Leigh Vogel/Abaca/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photographs/File)
“What’s the historical past that will then make these phrases fallacious?” Harris requested, to which Vitiello mentioned the KKK can be labeled as a home terrorist group by as we speak’s requirements and was motivated by race and ethnicity and tried to make use of “concern and pressure.”
“Are you conscious of the notion of many about how the facility and the discretion at ICE is getting used to implement the legal guidelines and do you see any parallels?” she requested.
Vitiello pushed again by saying, “I don’t see any parallels” between the company and the white supremacist group, and he requested whether or not she was asking him if the 2 have been in the identical class.
“No, I am very particular about what I am asking you. Are you conscious of a notion that the way in which that they …” Harris went on earlier than the nominee mentioned, “I see none.”
“Are you conscious that there’s a notion that ICE is administering its energy in a method that’s inflicting concern and intimidation, significantly amongst immigrants and particularly amongst immigrants coming from Mexico and Central America?” she requested once more.
Harris ended her questioning by asking whether or not Vitiello could lead on the company if he was not conscious of the destructive views towards it.
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“Sir, how will you be the pinnacle of an company and be unaware of how your company is perceived by sure communities?” she requested.
That sparked outrage on the time, with Republicans accusing her of creating the comparability for political functions.
“Kamala Harris is making an attempt to launch her 2020 marketing campaign off of evaluating ICE officers to the KKK, and it is completely disgusting,” then-Republican Nationwide Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel tweeted.
Border Patrol brokers on horseback
Three years later, in 2021, Harris upset Border Patrol brokers when she helped gas a story about horseback brokers who encountered migrants through the Haitian migrant surge in Del Rio, Texas.
Based mostly on photographs of brokers utilizing their reins to manage their horses, some Democrats, together with President Biden, accused brokers of whipping migrants. Harris didn’t explicitly point out whipping, however she did pile the strain on the brokers.
“What I noticed depicted about these people on horseback treating human beings the way in which they have been was horrible,” Harris informed reporters. “And I totally help what is going on proper now, which is a radical investigation into precisely what’s going on there. However human beings ought to by no means be handled that method. And I am deeply troubled about it. And I am going to even be speaking to [Homeland Security] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas about it as we speak.”
Her assertion coincided with statements by Biden who promised “they’ll pay.” Days later, Harris mentioned the photographs evoked slavery.
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Customs and Border Safety mounted officers try and comprise migrants as they cross the Rio Grande from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, into Del Rio, Texas, on Sept. 19, 2021. (AP Photograph/Felix Marquez)
“Human beings shouldn’t be handled that method,” Harris informed “The View” hosts. “It additionally invoked photographs of a number of the worst moments of our historical past, the place that sort of conduct has been used in opposition to the Indigenous folks of our nation, it has been used in opposition to African Individuals throughout instances of slavery.”
A subsequent investigation faulted the brokers for minor infractions however discovered the underlying claims that migrants have been whipped weren’t true. Mayorkas, who had criticized the brokers, would later go on to defend them final 12 months when a reporter would cite the incident.
“Effectively, let me simply appropriate you proper there as a result of truly the investigation concluded that the whipping didn’t happen,” he mentioned.
The feedback from Harris additionally sparked outrage from Border Patrol brokers on the time, who spoke to Fox Information.
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“Once more, it’s clear that these in cost, a time period that’s disgusting to make use of, haven’t any clue about our operations and admittedly function by ignorance and unhinged feelings,” one mentioned.
Harris, nonetheless, has not backed down from her remarks on both incident.
“The one ‘plan’ Donald Trump has to safe our border is ripping moms from their kids and some xenophobic placards on the Republican Nationwide Conference,” Harris marketing campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz mentioned in an announcement on Monday. “He tanked the bipartisan border safety deal as a result of, for Donald Trump, this has by no means been about options simply working on an issue. Like every part with Donald Trump, it’s by no means been about serving to the nation, it is solely about serving to himself. There’s just one candidate on this race who will battle for bipartisan options to strengthen border safety, and that’s Vice President Harris.”
Immigration will probably be a prime precedence for Harris if she is elected president, given the continued state of affairs on the border. She was tasked with heading worldwide diplomacy to cope with the migration disaster in 2021, which led to her being dubbed the “border czar” by Republicans and media retailers. Her marketing campaign has mentioned that, if elected, she’s going to battle for options to strengthen the border. It has additionally taken goal at indicators calling for mass deportations on the current GOP conference.
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox Information Digital, primarily protecting immigration and border safety.
He could be reached at adam.shaw2@fox.com or on Twitter.
