Kamala Harris slams Trump for mass deportation plan in speech to Latino lawmakers
Kamala Harris slammed former President Donald Trump on Wednesday over his plan for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.
In a speech to Latino lawmakers, the Democratic presidential candidate derided the GOP plan to round up millions of people, suggesting that such an operation could have an unpredictable and wide-ranging impact on American life.
“Imagine what that would look like and what that would be. How’s that going to happen?” Harris asked. “Massive raids? Detention camps?”
“What are they talking about?” she added, shaking her head in disgust.
Harris vowed that she would tighten security at the southern border, but also would grant “an earned path to citizenship” for undocumented immigrants. She promised to protect so-called Dreamers, the children of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. by their parents.
“We can do both and we must do both,” she declared.
The 25-minute speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute marked the second day in a row that Harris has made explicit appeals to heavily Democratic constituencies. She answered questions Tuesday at a forum in Philadelphia hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists.
Trump has repeatedly vowed to deport millions of undocumented immigrants if he wins the election, although he has not revealed any details.
Last week, he said he would start the crackdown in Springfield, Ohio, the small city where he falsely claims Haitian immigrants have been stealing and eating the pets of their U.S.-born neighbors.
The Haitian migrants in Springfield are here legally under a federal program called Temporary Protected Status, which allows them to temporarily live and work in the U.S. because conditions for them in Haiti are considered too dangerous.
Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, a Republican, has pleaded with Trump to not follow through on his reported plans to make a campaign swing to the city, saying it would be too much of a strain and could further divide the community.
Harris has forged a small but significant lead over Trump in polls of all voters since taking the Democratic baton from President Biden, who dropped out of the race in July after a disastrous debate performance.
But among Black and Latino voters, Harris is still lagging somewhat behind the polling numbers posted by Biden and Hillary Clinton in their campaigns against Trump.
Harris will need to rack up huge margins among both groups, especially in the seven battleground states, to overcome Trump’s edge among white voters.
Harris, 59, has mostly steered clear of reminding voters of the historic nature of her campaign to become the first Black woman president. Instead she stresses broader issues like her economic plan and the need to “turn the page” from Trump’s rancor and divisiveness.
The veep mostly hewed to that path again on Wednesday, stressing her middle-class upbringing and commitment to building an inclusive “opportunity economy” with new tax breaks for first-time homebuyers and small business founders.
Harris also doubled down on her support for abortion rights, an issue that has proved very popular even among predominantly Catholic Latino voters.
She touted the Biden administration’s successful effort to force Big Pharma companies to negotiate lower prices for Medicare.
A week after a debate most observers thought she won, Harris mocked Trump for claiming he only has “concepts of a plan” to deal with health care in a potential future administration.
“So on that point about the Affordable Care Act … we planned concepts,” a laughing Harris said as the crowd cheered. “Concepts, concepts.”
_____