 | « Back to article | Print this article |
The United States has a broken immigration system that needs to be repaired, Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday in a rare interview with the Republican-leaning news channel during which she sparred with its popular host.
"The point is that we have a broken immigration system that needs to be repaired," Harris told Fox News anchor Bret Baier in a rare sit-down with the news channel.
"So, your Homeland Security Secretary said that 85 per cent of apprehensions," Baier interjected.
"I'm not finished. We have an immigration system," Harris tried to continue with her answer.
"It's a rough estimate that 6 million people have been released into the country," the Fox News anchor interrupted again.
"And let me just finish. I'll get to the question. I promise you. I was beginning to answer," the vice president pleaded.
"When you came into office, your administration immediately reversed a number of Trump border policies. Most significantly, the policy that required illegal immigrants to be detained through deportation, either in the US or in Mexico. And you switched that policy. They were... released from custody awaiting trial. So instead, included in those were a large number of single men, adult men, who went on to commit heinous crimes. So looking back, do you regret the decision to terminate Remain in Mexico at the beginning of your administration?" Baier asked again.
"At the beginning of our administration, within practically hours of taking the oath, the first bill, practically within hours of taking the oath, was a bill to fix our immigration system," Harris said as Baier kept on interjecting in between.
"We recognised from day one that to the point of this being your first question, It is a priority for us as a nation and for the American people. Our focus has been on fixing a problem. From day one, then, we have done a number of things, including to address our asylum system and put more resources, getting more judges, what we needed to do to tighten up penalties and increase penalties for illegal crossings, what we needed to do to deal with points of entry between border, entry points," she said.
"We worked on supporting what was a bipartisan effort, including some of the most conservative members of the United States Congress, to actually strengthen the border. That border bill would have put 1,500 more border agents at the border, which is why I believe the Border Patrol agents supported the bill. It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl coming into the United States, which is a scourge affecting people of every background, every geographic location in our country, killing people," she said.
"Donald Trump learned about that bill and told them to kill it because he preferred to instead of fixing a problem," Harris alleged.
"This election in 20 days will determine whether we have a president of the United States who actually cares more about fixing a problem, even if it is not to their political advantage in an election, because there was a solution," she said.
Harris said she represents the next generation of leadership and her presidency would be different from that of her boss President Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump.
"My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency. Like every new president that comes in to office, I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences, and fresh and new ideas. I represent a new generation of leadership," Harris said to Fox news channel.
"I, for example, am someone who has not spent the majority of my career in Washington, D.C. I invite ideas, whether it be from the Republicans who are supporting me, who were just on stage with me minutes ago, and the business sector and others, who can contribute to the decisions that I make about," she said.
"You've been vice president for three and a half years. So, what are you turning the page from?" she was asked.
"Well, first of all, turning the page from the last decade in which we have been burdened with the kind of rhetoric coming from Donald Trump that has been designed and implemented to divide our country and have Americans literally point fingers at each other; rhetoric and an approach to leadership that suggests that the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down instead of what we all know. The strength of leadership is based on who you lift up," Harris asserted.
"The strength of an American president which is one who understands that the vast majority of us have more in common than what separates us. That is turning the page on rhetoric that People are frankly exhausted of," she said.
Harris slammed her Republican rival Trump and said he is unfit to run for presidency.
"If he's as bad as you say, that half of this country is now supporting this person who could be the 47th president of the United States? Why is that happening?" she was asked.
"This is an election for president of the United States. It's not supposed to be easy. It is not supposed to be a cakewalk for anyone. If you listen to Donald Trump, if you watch any of his rallies, he's the one who tends to demean and belittle and diminish the American people. He's the one who talks about an enemy within, an enemy within, talking about the American people suggesting he would turn the American military on the American people," Harris said.