Nikki Haley says VP's comparison of ICE to the KKK means she's wrong person to fix border crisis 


Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley joined other conservatives in slamming Vice President Kamala Harris for her stance on immigration, saying she can’t be trusted because of her comments comparing ICE to the Ku Klux Klan.

Kamala Harris is now in charge of the White House response to the southern border crisis, a decision that has been met with fierce rebuke from conservatives.  

‘How can we trust Kamala Harris to deal with the border crisis when she compared ICE to the KKK in 2018?’ Haley asked in her Friday afternoon tweet. ‘Answer: We can’t.’

Nikki Haley asked how 'we' could trust Vice President Kamala Harris because of her comments in 2018 comparing ICE to the KKK

Nikki Haley asked how ‘we’ could trust Vice President Kamala Harris because of her comments in 2018 comparing ICE to the KKK

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that Harris would be in charge of addressing issues at the southern border

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that Harris would be in charge of addressing issues at the southern border

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley joined other conservatives in slamming Vice President Kamala Harris for her stance on immigration, saying she can't be trusted to be at the helm of the border crisis

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley joined other conservatives in slamming Vice President Kamala Harris for her stance on immigration, saying she can’t be trusted to be at the helm of the border crisis

Haley was specifically referencing a congressional hearing in 2018 when Harris, then a U.S. senator for California, compared Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the KKK.     

Harris immediately faced a slew of criticism from conservatives for her very lax stance on immigration.

‘An undocumented immigrant is not a criminal,’ Harris tweeted in April 2017 in bashing then-President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policy.

Republicans were quick to pounce on Biden’s decision to put Harris at the helm of this issue, pointing to her past criticism of offices dealing with the border. 

In her 2017 tweet, Harris vowed: ‘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.’

Kamala Harris asserted in 2017 tweet illegal immigrants aren't criminals – exhibiting her 'weak' immigration stance conservatives pounced on following her appointment to lead the White House response to the border crisis

Kamala Harris asserted in 2017 tweet illegal immigrants aren’t criminals – exhibiting her ‘weak’ immigration stance conservatives pounced on following her appointment to lead the White House response to the border crisis

Central American migrants who managed to cross illegally into the U.S. in order to seek asylum, stay under a park gazebo after they were sent back to Mexico by U.S. border authorities in Reynosa, Mexico Friday, March 26

Central American migrants who managed to cross illegally into the U.S. in order to seek asylum, stay under a park gazebo after they were sent back to Mexico by U.S. border authorities in Reynosa, Mexico Friday, March 26

Then-Senator Harris continued: ‘It’s ludicrous to say we’re going to deport 12 million people. Now how are you going to do that?’

‘Give people a path to citizenship,’ she urged in her Twitter thread just a few months after Trump took office. ‘The vast majority of folks we’re talking about are living a lawful life and paying taxes.’ 

The vice president was put in charge of addressing the administration’s response, it was announced Wednesday.

Her response is expected to focus on two different areas. The first is slowing the flow of ‘irregular migrants’ by instead looking at and addressing ‘root causes’ that prompted them to leave their home countries. Secondly the vice president wants to strengthen relationships with Mexico and Central American countries.

Harris, conservatives were quick to point out, is ‘weak’ on immigration and they claim the move is indicative of the White House not taking the mass migration crisis at the southern border seriously.

Josh Hawley, a hardline Republican senator from Missouri, tweeted Wednesday: ‘This is the person Joe Biden is putting in charge of the border – an advocate for decriminalizing illegal border crossing.’

He was referencing how Harris raised her hand during a Democratic primary debate in June 2019 when candidates were asked if they were in favor of decriminalizing border crossings.

Thousands of immigrants continue to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico despite Biden declaring the 'border is closed' and urging migrants, even asylum seekers, not to come to country right now

Thousands of immigrants continue to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico despite Biden declaring the ‘border is closed’ and urging migrants, even asylum seekers, not to come to country right now

Holding facilities have swiftly become overwhelmed after Biden promised during his presidential campaign that all migrants would be welcomed in the U.S.

Holding facilities have swiftly become overwhelmed after Biden promised during his presidential campaign that all migrants would be welcomed in the U.S. 

WHAT KAMALA HARRIS SAYS ON IMMIGRATION AND BORDER AGENTS

– April 2017 Twitter thread:

‘An undocumented immigrant is not a criminal. 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.’

‘It’s ludicrous to say we’re going to deport 12 million people. Now how are you going to do that? Give people a path to citizenship. The vast majority of folks we’re talking about are living a lawful life and paying taxes.’

– Nov. 10, 2016 – days after Donald Trump took office:

‘This issue of how we are treating our immigrants, and in particular our undocumented immigrants, is one of the most critical issues facing our country. We are not going to be achieving who we say we are as a country if we attack our community members, our neighbors, our friends and our colleagues.’ 

– Wednesday – comments after being appointed to head border crisis: 

‘While we are clear that people should not come to the border now, we also understand that we will enforce the law and that we also—because we can chew gum and walk at the same time—must address the root causes that cause people to make the trek, as the president has described, to come here.’

‘At some point, absolutely we will go down to the border and I’ve been down to the border and our secretary of the Homeland Security Alex Mayorkas has been down there twice. Senior administration officials have been down there and yes, we will go.’  

– 2018 – when voting against 2018 bill with $25 billion in border wall funding:

‘A wall will not secure our border and I remain concerned those billions of dollars may also be used to implement this Administration’s anti-immigrant agenda—one that targets California and its residents.’  

– 2019 – published in her book, The Truths We Hold:

‘There are a few things more cruel, more inhumane, more fundamentally evil than ripping a child from her parent’s arms. The administration claimed that it wouldn’t separate families seeking asylum if they arrived at an official port of entry, as opposed to other parts of the border. But that didn’t hold true.’  

– 2018 confirmation hearing for Trump’s nominee to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Ronald Vitiello:

VITIELLO: Well, the Klan was what we would call today a domestic terrorist group.

HARRIS: Why?

VITIELLO: ‘Cause they tried to use fear and force to change political environment.

HARRIS: And what was the motivation for the use of fear and force?

VITIELLO: It was based on race and ethnicity.

HARRIS: Right. Are you aware of the perception of many about how the power and the discretion at ICE is being used to enforce the laws? And do you see any parallels?

VITIELLO: I do not see any parallels between sworn officers and agents–

HARRIS: I’m talking about perception. 

VITIELLO: I do not see a parallel between what is constitutionally mandated as it relates to enforcing the law –

HARRIS: Are you aware that there’s a perception –

VITIELLO: I see no perception that puts ICE in the same category as the KKK. Is that what you’re asking me?

June 18, 2018 statement calling for Trump’s DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to resign:  

‘The government should be in the business of keeping families together, not tearing them apart. And the government should have a commitment to transparency and accountability. Under Secretary Nielsen’s tenure, the Department of Homeland Security has a track record of neither. As a result, she must resign.’

‘During her time as the manager of the government’s third largest agency, the Department has implemented a policy that has separated thousands of children from their families, issued a directive to make it easier to detain pregnant women, tried to use [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] DACA recipients as leverage to achieve the President’s anti-immigrant agenda, failed to address some of the agency’s most pressing management challenges and overseen the continued failed response to tragedy in Puerto Rico.’ 

Harris made clear Thursday that the administration is discouraging migrants from arriving at the border right now.

‘While we are clear that people should not come to the border now, we also understand that we will enforce the law and that we also—because we can chew gum and walk at the same time—must address the root causes that cause people to make the trek, as the president has described, to come here,’ the vice president said.

During his campaign, Biden said all asylum seekers would be welcomed – and when he was elected president in November 2020, a massive caravan from Central American began migrating to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, a Republican, said Biden has made ‘about the worst possible choice’ by tapping Harris to lead the border crisis response. Critics, like the border-state leader, pointed to the vice president’s previous statements as evidence of her being unfit for the role.

‘I have been informed that Vice President Kamala Harris has been put in charge of border security,’ said Ducey, whose state has 370 miles of border with Mexico.

‘She’s about the worst possible choice that one could make,’ he added. ‘In no point in her career has she given any indication that she considers the border a problem or a serious threat.’

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, a Republican, said Wednesday that Biden made 'about the worst possible choice' by tapping Harris to lead the border crisis response

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, a Republican, said Wednesday that Biden made ‘about the worst possible choice’ by tapping Harris to lead the border crisis response

In Harris’ book ‘The Truths We Hold’, which was published in 2019 as she ran in the Democratic presidential primary, she exhibited her pro-immigration stances.

‘There are a few things more cruel, more inhumane, more fundamentally evil than ripping a child from her parent’s arms,’ Harris wrote in her book, which came as the Trump administration received intense criticism after pictures of children migrants in ‘cages’ emerged.

‘The administration claimed that it wouldn’t separate families seeking asylum if they arrived at an official port of entry, as opposed to other parts of the border,’ she continued. ‘But that didn’t hold true.’

Despite these comments, Biden’s administration is now urging migrants – even those seeking asylum – not to come to the U.S.-Mexico border right now.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has said the ‘border is closed.’

Mayorkas, and other officials have been doing damage control as Biden faces the biggest challenge of his presidency in the situation at the border – which the administration so far has refused to call a ‘crisis.’

‘She’s leading the effort,’ Biden said Wednesday in announcing Harris as point person. ‘The best thing to do is put someone when he or she speaks, they don’t have to wonder about is that where the president is.

‘She speaks for me. She knows what she’s doing,’ he assured.

Conservatives are also pointing out the hypocrisy of Biden and Harris by denouncing Trump’s policies, but now implementing some of the same.

John Cooper, a spokesman for the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, tweeted of Harris: ‘Let’s take a walk down memory lane and look at some of her recent statements about the border, kids in cages, and more!’

He referenced her previous comparison between the KKK and ICE, and her promise that children would not be kept ‘in cages’.

He also pointed out she said child migrants should not be ‘treated like criminals’, and now the Biden/Harris administration keeping thousands in detention and holding facilities.

‘These are just some of the things Vice Pres. Harris has said about the border. Some are extreme positions, like bragging about making her state a sanctuary state,’ he wrote on Twitter.

‘Others show her political opportunism,’ he continued. ‘She is unfit to be handling any response to this border crisis.’ 

Harris is not unique in being a Democrat in opposition to Trump’s border wall – something conservatives have lamented ever since Biden halted construction and froze Pentagon funds already appropriated for the project.

‘A wall will not secure our border and I remain concerned those billions of dollars may also be used to implement this Administration’s anti-immigrant agenda—one that targets California and its residents,’ Harris said in 2018.

Her comments were made as she voted against the bill appropriating $25 billion in border wall funding.

At the time, Republicans held a majority in the Senate, and the measure passed.

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