Vice President Harris, both as a senator and vice president, has caused controversy with the Homeland Security agency, comparing one to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), and fueling the since-discredited narrative about Border Patrol agents on horseback allegedly whipping migrants.
ICE and the KKK
At the November 2018 confirmation hearing, then-Sen. Harris asked Ronald Vitiello, who is President Trump’s former nominee to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), if he “understands the perception” of parallels between ICE and the KKK.
Harris has highlighted a tweet from Vitiello from 2015 in which he said the Democratic Party could be compared to a “neo-Klanist” entity. Vitiello apologized and admitted that the words were offensive.
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“Did history then make the word wrong?” Harris asked, Vitiello said the KKK would be labeled a domestic terrorist group by today’s standards and motivated by race and ethnicity and trying to use “fear and power.”
“Are you aware of many perceptions of how the powers and discretion within ICE are used to enforce the law and do you see any parallels?” he asked.
Vitiello pushed back, saying, “I don’t see any parallels” between the agency and white supremacist groups, and he asked if he was asking if they were in the same category.
“No, I’m very specific about what I’m asking you. Do you know from the perception that the same way…” Harris continued before the nominee said, “I don’t see.”
“Do you know that there is a perception that ICE is managing its powers in a way that instills fear and intimidation, especially among immigrants and especially among immigrants who come from Mexico and Central America?” he asked again.
Harris ended his questioning by asking whether Vitiello could lead the agency if he didn’t know about these negative views.
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“Sir, how can you be the head of an agency and not know how your agency is perceived by certain communities?” he asked.
That sparked outrage at the time, with Republicans accusing him of making the comparison for political purposes.
“Kamala Harris is trying to launch her 2020 campaign to compare ICE officials to the KKK, and it’s disgusting,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a tweet.
Border Patrol Agent on horseback
Three years later, in 2021, Harris interrupted a Border Patrol agent as he helped tell a narrative about a horse agent encountering migrants during a Haitian migrant surge in Del Rio, Texas.
Based on images of agents using reins to control horses, some Democrats, including President Biden, have accused migrant whipping agents. Harris did not explicitly mention the whipping, but he piled the pressure on the agent.
“What I saw was a picture of people on horseback treating people in a horrible way,” Harris told reporters. “And I fully support what’s happening now, which is a full investigation into what happened there. But a human being should not be treated like that. And I’m very concerned about that. And I’m going to say the same. to the Secretary (of Homeland Security) (Alejandro) Mayorkas about today.
The statement matched Biden’s statement that he had promised “to pay.” The next day, Harris said the image evoked slavery.
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“Humans shouldn’t be treated like that,” Harris told “The View” host. “It also invokes the image of some of the worst times in our history, where this kind of behavior has been used on the indigenous people of our country, it has been used on African Americans during the slavery era.”
A subsequent investigation blamed the agent for minor infractions but found the underlying claim that the migrants had been whipped untrue. Mayorkas, who had criticized the agent, would then defend him last year when journalists would mention the incident.
“Well, I correct you there because the investigation concluded that the whipping did not happen,” he said.
Harris’ comments also drew the ire of Border Patrol agents at the time, who spoke to Fox News.
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“Again, it’s clear that those responsible, a disgusting term to use, have no knowledge of our operations and are frankly operating out of ignorance and uncontrollable emotion,” he said.
Harris, however, did not back down from speaking about the incident. Harris’ campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Immigration will be a top priority for Harris if he is elected president, given the situation at the border. He is tasked with leading international diplomacy to tackle the migration crisis in 2021, prompting him to be dubbed the “border tsar” by Republicans and media outlets.