Vice President Kamala Harris gave a meandering response to a question about how she would address illegal immigration during a Thursday night forum hosted by Oprah Winfrey.
Illegal immigration has become a prominent issue in the 2024 campaign after a series of crimes involving illegal immigrants, including the murders of Rachel Morin, Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray and the struggles experienced after an influx of over 20,000 Haitian migrants into the city of Springfield, Ohio. Harris initially discussed her background as attorney general of California and a prosecutor before turning her attention to the demise of a bipartisan border bill.
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“This is not a theoretical issue for me, this is something I have actually worked on,” Harris told Justin, a black man who asked her what she would do to secure the border. “I have prosecuted transnational criminal organizations for the trafficking of guns, drugs and human beings. I take very seriously the importance of having a secure border and ensuring the safety of the American people.”
The Senate failed to invoke cloture on a motion to begin debate on legislation combining foreign aid and border security negotiated by Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona by a vote of 50-49 on Feb. 7.
“Sadly, where we are now can be traced most recently back to the fact that when the United States Congress, members of Congress, including some of the most conservative Republicans, came up with a border security bill, and here’s what that border security bill would have done: It would have put 1,500 more border agents at the border,” Harris claimed. “Let me tell you, those border agents are working around the clock. It would have been just about giving them some support and relief, which is probably why the border agents actually endorsed the bill.”
“It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl, and I’m looking at people from all over the country here, so I don’t need to tell folks who are watching this what fentanyl has done to families, to kids, in the country and the need to take seriously stemming the flow coming into our country and addressing that extraordinary and tragic issue in terms of its effect,” Harris continued, adding that the bill would have been “part of the solution” to the border crisis.
House Republicans indicated the bill was dead on arrival shortly after its introduction in February, saying some of the provisions were “a magnet” that would lead to continued illegal immigration. Harris blamed former President Donald Trump for the bill’s demise.
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“Donald Trump called up those folks and said ‘Don’t put that bill on the floor for a vote.’ He blocked the bill, and you know why? Because he’d prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem, and he has put his political, personal political security over border security,” Harris claimed, drawing applause from the crowd. “Cause understand, even in the intervening months, what that bill would have done to give support to folks who care about this issue. And this again gets to the point about what does leadership really look like and is it about you or is it about the people? Is it about running on problems, or fixing problems?”
“My work and my career has always been about saying, let’s fix problems, let’s address the needs, because we know it’s within our capacity to do that,” Harris continued.
Winfrey asked Harris what she would do about the bill, and if it would be re-introduced.
“Absolutely, and when I am elected President of the United States, I will make sure that bill gets to my desk and I will sign it into law,” Harris responded.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.