Harris defends Biden Administration's immigration policies, vows strengthened action if voted into power
Oct 17, 2024
Washington DC [US], October 17 : In a latest interview to Fox News, US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running for the post of President highlighted how the Biden-Harris administration has dealt with the issue of illegal immigration.
In an interview with Fox News' chief political anchor Bret Baier on 'Special Report', Harris extensively spoke about the immigration crisis the US is facing.
Baier noted that immigration is one of the key issues voters are looking at during this election season in the US, specifically the influx of illegal immigrants from more than 150 countries.
Harris begun by accepting that, "We have a broken immigration system that needs to be repaired."
Noting the changes her administration brought for managing this issue, she said, "At the beginning of our administration, within practically hours of taking the oath, the first bill we offered the Congress before we worked on infrastructure, inflation reduction act, chips and science act, was a bill to fix our immigration system"
The US Citizenship Act of 2021 was proposed by President Joe Biden and contained provisions to bring monumental changes in the American immigration policy, however, it could not be passed in the American Congress.
She reiterated, "We recognised this as a priority from day one for us as a nation and for the American people"
Highlighting the measures undertaken by the Biden-Harris administration, she said that the incumbent government has worked to "address our asylum systems, put more resources to increase penalties for illegal crossings, worked on what is needed to be done on points of entry between borders, prosecuting transnational criminals" amongst other measures.
On two key aspects of immigration, Harris was put in a tough spot, where her answers showed reservations and were prepense.
This includes her statements during the 2019 election cycle where she gave a call to streamline the illegal immigrants by offering them subsidised tuition in the American education system and driver's licenses so that they can start their lives afresh in the States.
When asked about Tim Walz, who is her Vice President nominee and current governor of Minnesota implementing Harris' statement into action through laws enacted in Minnesota.
Harris dodged key issues which are have been raised by the American electorate.
In one of his latest election campaigns, Donald Trump accused Kamala Harris of using the taxpayer's money for gender transition surgeries of detained illegal aliens. When questioned on this, Harris dodged the question and remarked that she would "follow the law".
"We must support and enforce federal law and that's what we'll do." She commented.
While Harris refused to comment on the number of illegal immigrants the Biden-Harris administration had released in the US in the last three and a half years, Baier noted that according to US officials, it can be as high as over 1.7 million illegal immigrants who have evaded Border Patrol and are now living in the United States without documentation or verification.
Harris kept her speech focused on her previous experience as the Attorney General of a border state, and the actions she took and highlighted that she has been the only person running for President who has prosecuted transnational criminals who have trafficked guns, drugs and human beings.
She said, "I have spent a significant part of my career going after people who present a threat to the safety of American people and cross our border with the intent of doing harm and cross the border illegally."
Avoiding data points, she tactically moved on to discuss the other intricacies of immigration. She said those were "trafficking of guns, drugs and human beings."
Pitching herself as the favourable candidate, she said, "What American people want are solutions and a president of the United States who is not playing political games with the issue and is actually focussed on fixing it."
The United States of America is set to go into Presidential elections in less than 20 days. Former US President Donald Trump is running again for office and Kamala Harris is running as the first woman and person of colour to be elected as the President of the United States.