Friday, March 29, 2024

Kamala Harris promises DREAMer she will protect DACA recipients and their parents

During a televised CNN town hall last night, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said she won’t vote to support funding for a border wall and criticized President Trump for continuing to push for the construction of a wall.

Harris, who was in Des Moines, Iowa, as part of her 2020 presidential campaign following her inaugural rally on Sunday, said she has visited the border and has seen sophisticated tunnels that cartels are building. “That wall ain’t going to stop them,” the California Democrat said. “They’re not jumping over a wall.”

Harris answered the question about whether she would approve funding for a border wall if DACA recipients were given permanent protection. “I’m not going to vote for a wall under any circumstances,” she said, adding that she supports border security in the form of upgraded infrastructure and technology.

The question of the wall came after Harris met a DACA recipient who asked how Harris would protect DREAMers and their families. Harris said she would work to fulfill the promise of protecting DACA recipients from deportation and criticized Trump’s for his treatment of those in the program. “We should not be trading on your life for the sake of the political games that this president is playing in trying to vilify young people like you who are doing nothing except being productive and believing in and living the American dream,” she told a DACA recipient in attendance.

Harris made her comments days after Congress and Trump agreed to reopen the government for three weeks while also working on a long-term solution. In the meantime, Trump remains steadfast on his campaign promise to build a wall.

Last week, he hinted that he might seek an alternate route to finding the funding should Congress once again reject giving him the money. He has also said that a second shutdown is possible.

USA TODAY