Kamala Harris leads Senate Democrats' push to offer paid congressional jobs and internships to DACA recipients even though they're not citizens
- Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris is leading the charge to lift the ban that keeps Dreamers from working on Capitol Hill
- Harris has been courting the Latino vote as part of her strategy of weaving together various Democratic constituencies to win the nomination
- She is the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India
- She has campaigned in the Latino-heavy states of Nevada and Texas
Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris is leading the charge to lift the ban that keeps Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients from working on Capitol Hill.
'The giant sign outside my office says 'DREAMers Welcome Here' because we know and value the contributions that these young people have made to their communities. But right now, those same young people are banned from giving back to their country by working for Congress. That has to change,' she said in a statement Wednesday.
'Government works best when it reflects the people it represents. Our nation's DREAMers are some of our best and brightest, and it's time they had the opportunity to get a job or paid internship on Capitol Hill,' the California Democrat said.
Under current law, paid employment in the House and Senate is limited to those who are either U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents - more commonly referred to as 'green card holders' - who have started the naturalization process.
Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris is leading the charge to lift the ban that keeps Dreamers from working on Capitol Hill
Under U.S. law, only citizens or those in the naturalization process can work on Capitol Hill
Harris has been courting the Latino vote as part of her strategy of weaving together various Democratic constituencies to win the 2020 presidential nomination.
Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, has campaigned in the Latino-heavy states of Nevada and Texas.
At her events, she also encourages questions in Spanish as she has a translator present - all of which are seen as moves to combat fluent Spanish-speaker Beto O'Rourke in his bid to become the Democratic nominee.
Other contenders are also courting Latinos.
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On Tuesday, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro became the first candidate in the Democratic field to unveil a detailed immigration plan. His proposal would offer a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.
Harris, along with Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Dick Durbin of Illinois, introduced on Wednesday The American Dream Employment Act that would make the so-called Dreamers eligible for congressional employment.
The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick of Arizona, where it has 57 bipartisan co-sponsors.
The children of Dreamers in Philadelphia in January
The status of Dreamers in the United States is in limbo, as President Donald Trump ended the President Obama-era DACA policy and Congress has not acted to permanently protect DACA recipients.
Court decisions have kept the program in place.
Trump's threat to close the border and harsh rhetoric toward immigrants has caused many Latino voters to feel vilified by the president.
WHO ARE ALL THE 16 DEMOCRATS RUNNING FOR THE PRESIDENCY IN 2020?
CORY BOOKER
Age on Inauguration Day: 51
Entered race: February 1, 2019
Career: High school football star who went to Stanford or undergraduate and masters degrees before studying in Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and Yale Law School. Worked for advocacy and youth projects and successfully ran for Newark, New Jersey, city council in 1998. Narrowly lost mayoral election in 2002 facing claims he was 'suburban' and 'not black enough.' Ran again in 2006 and won landslide on radical reform platform for troubled city, including being tough on crime, cutting budget deficit, increasing affordable housing and tackling failing schools - controversially taking a huge donation from Mark Zuckerberg for the city. Ran for New Jersey senate seat in 2013 special election and won; won full term in 2014
Family: Single. Parents Cary and Carolyn were among IBM's first black executives. Brother Cary Jr. is education adviser to New Jersey's Democratic governor. Would be first bachelor president since James Buchanan, who was in the White House from 1857 to 1861
Religion: Baptist
Views on key issues: Self-proclaimed liberal. Endorses abortion rights; affirmative action; single-payer health care; criminal justice reform; path to citizenship for 'dreamers; federal marijuana decriminalization; $15 minimum wage; but has also spoken against tech regulation and for long-term deficit reduction
Slogan: To be announced
PETE BUTTIGIEG
Age on Inauguration Day: 39
Entered race: Announced formation of exploratory committee January 23, 2019
Career: Harvard grad and Rhodes scholar who got a second degree from Oxford before working as a McKinsey management consultant and being commissioned as a Navy Reserve intelligence officer. Elected South Ben mayor in 2011 and served in combat in 2013, won re-election in 2015
Family: Came out as gay during second mayoral run and married husband Chasten Glezman, a middle school teacher in 2018. Parents were University of Notre Dame academics. Surname is pronounced BOOT-edge-edge. Would be first openly gay president, youngest-ever president and first combat veteran since George H.W. Bush
Religion: Episcopalian
Views on key issues: Has said Democratic party needs a 'fresh start'; wrote an essay in praise of Bernie Sanders aged 17; backed paid parental leave for city employees; other policies unknown
Slogan: To be announced
JULIAN CASTRO
Age on Inauguration Day: 46
Entered race: January 12, 2018, at rally in his native San Antonio, TX. Had formed exploratory committee two months previously
Career: Stanford and Harvard graduate who was a San Antonio councilman at 26 and became mayor in 2009. Was Obama's Housing and Urban Development secretary from 2014 to 2016
Family: Married with nine-year-old daughter, Carina, and four-year-old son, Cristian. His identical twin Joaquin, who is a minute younger, is Democratic congressman. Mother Maria del Rosario Castro was part of 'radical' third party for Mexican-Americans; father left his wife and five children for her but they never married. Would be first Hispanic-American president - announced his run in English and Spanish - and first-ever U.S. president with a twin
Religion: Catholic
Views on key issues: Wants medicare for all; universal pre-K; action on affordable housing; will not take money from political action committees (PACs) tied to corporations or unions. Other views still to be announced
Slogan: One Nation. One Destiny
JOHN DELANEY
Age on Inauguration Day: 57
Entered race: Filed papers July 28, 2017
Career: Three-time Maryland congressman, first winning election in 2012. Previously set up publicly-traded companies lending capital to healthcare and mid-size businesses and was youngest CEO at the time of a New York Stock Exchange-listed firm
Family: Married father of four; wife April works for children's issues nonprofit
Religion: Catholic
Views on key issues: Social liberal in favor of legalized pot and gun control but not single-payer healthcare; fiscally conservative
Slogan: Focus on the Future
TULSI GABBARD
Age on Inauguration Day: 39
Entered race: Still to formally file any papers but said she would run on January 11 2019
Career: Born on American Samoa, a territory, and therefore may be subject to questions over whether she is natural-born. Raised largely in Hawaii, she co-founded an environmental non-profit with her father as a teenager and was elected to the State Legislature aged 21, its youngest member in history. Enlisted in the National Guard and served two tours, one in Iraq 2004-2006, then as an officer in Kuwait in 2009. Ran for Honolulu City Council in 2011, and House of Representatives in 2012
Family: Married to her second husband, Abraham Williams, a cinematographer since 2015. First marriage to childhood sweetheart Eduardo Tamayo in 2002 ended in 2006. Father Mike Gabbard is a Democratic Hawaii state senator, mother Carol Porter runs a non-profit. Would be first Samoan-American, first Hindu, first female and youngest-ever president
Religion: Hindu
Views on key issues: Has apologized for anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage views; wants marijuana federally legalized; opposed to most U.S. foreign interventions; backs $15 minimum wage and universal health care; was the second elected Democrat to meet Trump after his 2016 victory
Slogan: To be announced
KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND
Age on Inauguration Day: 54
Entered race: Announced exploratory committee on Stephen Colbert's CBS show on January 16, 2019. Formal launch in front of Trump International Hotel and Tower, New York, March 24, 2019
Career: Dartmouth and UCLA law grad who was a high-flying Manhattan attorney representing big businesses. Says she was inspired to enter politics by hearing Hillary Clinton speak, although she is also scion of a prominent New York Democratic political family. Won New York's 20th district, centered on Albany in 2004; appointed to Hillary Clinton's senate seat in 2008 and won it in 2010 special election 63-35; won first full term 2012 and re-elected 67-33 in 2018
Family: Married to British venture capitalist Jonathan Gillibrand with two sons, Theodore, 15, and Henry, ten. Father Douglas Lutnik was Democratic lobbyist; grandmother Polly Noonan was at center of Albany Democratic politics. Would be first female president
Religion: Catholic
Views on key issues: Initially pro-gun as Congresswoman, has since reversed herself to be pro-gun control and also pro-immigration; said Bill Clinton should have resigned over Monica Lewinsky and helped force Al Franken out of Senate over groping allegations; in favor of single-payer healthcare and Medicare for all
Slogan: Brave wins
KAMALA HARRIS
Age on Inauguration Day: 56
Entered race: Announced she was running January 21, 2018 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day - on Good Morning America. Formally entered race January 27
Career: Howard and U.C. Hunter law school grad who worked as assistant district attorney in Alameda County, CA, then in San Francisco's DA's office before being elected San Francisco DA in 2003 and used it as springboard to run successfully for California attorney general in 2010. Won again in 2014 and was at center of U.S. attorney general and Supreme Court speculation but also endured a series of controversies, including over police brutality allegations. Ran for Senate in 2016 and established herself on liberal wing of party
Family: Born in Berkeley, CA, to immigrant Indian Tamil mother and Jamaican father who were both academics and brought up from seven to 18 in Montreal, Canada. Dated married San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, when he was 60 and she was 29. Married attorney Douglas Emhoff in 2014 and has two stepchildren; Cole, an aspiring actor, and Ella, an art and design student. Sister Maya was a Hillary Clinton adviser and brother-in-law Tony West is Uber's chief legal counsel. Would be first female, first Indian-American, first Jamaican-America and first female black president
Views on key issues: Social ultra-liberal who has rejected criticisms of 'identity politics' and is running without a political action committee, which will make her reliant on small donors. Has shifted left on criminal justice reform; supports Medicare for all; pro-gun control and anti-death penalty; says illegal immigration is a civil not a criminal offense
Religion: Has said she was brought up in both Baptist and Hindu tradition
Slogan: Kamala Harris: For The People
JOHN HICKENLOOPER
Age on Inauguration Day: 68
Entered race: March 4, 2019 with Good Morning America interview
Career: Wesleyan University-educated geologist who moved to Colorado to work in petroleum industry but was laid off and started Wynkoop Brewing Company, the first craft brewpub in 1988 in Denver's LoDo (lower downtown) area. Ran for mayor of Denver as an outsider in 2003 and won, then won a second term in 2007. Ran for Colorado governor in 2010 and won 51 per cent of the vote; his nearest rival took 36.5 per cent. Won re-election 49.3 to 46 in 2014, but was term limited and ended his second term in January 2019
Family: Married to second wife Robin Pringle, 40, a vice president at LibertyMedia Corp., owners of Sirius XM. Divorced first wife Helen Thorpe in 2012 after 10 years of marriage; ex-couple have son Teddy, a high school student. Born and brought up in Narbeth, in the Main Line of Philadelphia, his father's ancestors include Civil War Union general Andrew Hickenlooper
Religion: Quaker
Views on key issues: Voiced support for Green New Deal but has also been in favor of fracking; has not embraced single-payer healthcare but expanded Medicaid in Colorado; long record of being pro-gun control; pro-choice but has gone out of his way to talk about reducing unplanned teenage pregnancies ; opposed to the death penalty; advocated for gay marriage
Slogan: To be announced
JAY INSLEE
Age on Inauguration Day: 69
Entered race: March 1, 2019
Career: Stanford drop-out who graduated from University of Washington and Williamette University School of Law before working as a city prosecutor in Selah, WA. First elected to Washington House of Representatives in 1989 and again in 1990; won Congressional seat in 1992 elections but lost in 1994 and then had failed 1996 gubernatorial run. Returned to Congress in 1998 elections and stayed until 2012 to run for governor. Won first term 51.5 to 48.5; re-elected in 2016 by 54.4 to 45.6
Family: Born in Seattle to late parents Frank, a Navy veteran and high school teacher and coach, and Adele, a Sears sales clerk. Married high school and college sweetheart Trudi since 1972. Three adult sons Jack, a radio producer in Washington D.C.; Connor, director of a Washington state non-profit for the disabled; and Joe, who works for King County, WA's department of natural resources and parks. Grandfather of three
Religion: Non-denominational Protestant
Views on key issues: Running to combat climate change with praise for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal - his record in Washington D.C. including aspiring to 'zero emissions' buildings and largely eliminate fossil fuel use; vocal gun control advocate; fought Trump's ban on entry to people from seven Muslim-majority countries; called moratorium on death penalty in Washington; supported marijuana legalization in Washington and expected to do so federally; will not take money from political action committees; healthcare position still unclear
Slogan: Our moment
AMY KLOBUCHAR
Age on Inauguration Day: 60
Entered race: Announced candidacy February 10, 2019 at snow-drenched rally in her native Minneapolis
Career: Yale and University of Chicago law graduate who became a corporate lawyer. First ran unsuccessfully for office in 1994 as Hennepin, MI, county attorney, and won same race in 1998, then in 2002, without opposition. Ran for Senate in 2006 and won 58-38; re-elected in 2012 and 2018
Family: Married to John Bessler, law professor at University of Baltimore and expert on capital punishment. Daughter Abigail Bessler, 23, works fora Democratic member of New York City council. Father Jim, 90, was a veteran newspaper columnist who has written a memoir of how his alcoholism hurt his family; mom Rose is a retired grade school teacher. Would be first female president
Religion: Congregationalist (United Church of Christ)
Views on key issues: Seen as a mainstream liberal: says she wants 'universal health care' but has not spelled out how; pro-gun control; pro-choice; backs $15 minimum wage; no public statements on federal marijuana legalization; has backed pro-Israel law banning the 'boycott, divestment and sanctions' movement; spoke out against abolishing ICE
Slogan: To be announced
WAYNE MESSAM
Age on Inauguration day: 46
Entered race: Announced March 28, 2019, formal launch March 30, 2019
Career: Florida State University football star who played starting wide receiver, and graduated in 1997. Worked in construction industry as contractor and started his own company in 2007. Ran for City of Miramar Commission in 2011 and mayor in 2015, defeating 16-year Democratic incumbent and becoming first black mayor of the city. Won second term March 2019, days before announcing presidential bid
Family: Married to college sweetheart Angela Sands, 44, who is also his business partner. Three college-age children: son Wayne Jr. and twin daughters Kayla and Kyla. Fourth child and first American-born child of Jamaican immigrants Hubert , a sugar-cane cutter, and his wife Delsey, who are both deceased. Was president of the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials in 2018. Would be first Jamaican-American president
Religion: Worships at the Fountain of New Life Church in Miami Gardens where he is a deacon
Views on key issues: Says he is staunch advocate of gun control. Wants action on climate change and is opposed to off-shore oil drilling. Opposes Trump immigration policies and proposed forcing immigration officials to get a warrant before entering city property. Yet to state position on health care and foreign policy
Slogan: Your Champion
BETO O'ROURKE
Age on Inauguration Day: 47
Entered race: March 14, 2019
Career: Born Robert Francis O'Rourke. Boarding-school educated Columbia grad who lived in a New York loft, playing in a punk band and doing desultory jobs and setting up an internet firm. Ran for El Paso city council in 2005, winning re-election and serving until 2012. Ran for Congress in 2012, defeating eight-term Democratic incumbent in primary. Gave up seat to run for Senate against Ted Cruz in 2018, losing 51-48
Family: Married to wife Amy Sanders, nine years his junior, with sons Ulysses and Henry, and daughter Molly. Father Pat was long-time El Paso politician who switched from Democrat to Republican; mom Melissa ran family-owned store in city until selling it after IRS probe. Melissa's stepfather Fred Korth was one of JFK's secretaries of the Navy. Father-in-law William Saunders is real estate developer estimated to be worth $500 million
Religion: Catholic
Views on key issues: Wants comprehensive immigration reform to give citizenship to 'dreamers' and a path to it for their parents, and vehemently opposes Trump's wall. Supports federal marijuana legalization. Pro-gun control including an assault rifle ban and universal background checks. Supports single-payer health care but with co-pays and has backed Medicaid expansion. Strongly pro-choice. Has hinted at backing breaking up tech giants. Said he would have voted for impeachment in Congress if he had had the chance
Slogan: To be announced
BERNIE SANDERS
Age on Inauguration Day: 79
Entered race: Sources said on January 25, 2019, that he would form exploratory committee. Officially announced February 19
Career: Student civil rights and anti-Vietnam activist who moved to Vermont and worked as a carpenter and radical film-maker. Serial failed political candidate in the 1970s, he ran as a socialist for mayor of Burlington in 1980 and served two terms ending in 1989, and win a seat in Congress as an independent in 1990. Ran for Senate in 2006 elections as an independent with Democratic endorsement and won third term in 2018. Challenged Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2016 but lost. Campaign has since been hit by allegations of sexual harassment - for which he has apologized - and criticized for its 'Bernie bro' culture
Family: Born to a Jewish immigrant father and the daughter of Jewish immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York. First marriage to college sweetheart Deboarah Shiling Messing in 1964 ended in divorce in 1966; had son Levi in 1969 with then girlfriend Susan Cambell Mott. Married Jone O'Meara in 1988 and considers her three children, all adults, his own. The couple have seven grandchildren. His older brother Larry is a former Green Party councilor in Oxfordshire, England. Would be first Jewish president
Religion: Secular Jewish
Views on key issues: Openly socialist and standard bearer for the Democratic party's left-turn. Wants federal $15 minimum wage; banks broken up; union membership encouraged; free college tuition; universal health care; re-distributive taxation; he opposed Iraq War and also U.S. leading the fight against ISIS and wants troops largely out of Afghanistan and the Middle East
Slogan: Not me. Us.
ELIZABETH WARREN
Age on Inauguration Day: 71
Entered race: Set up exploratory committee December 31, 2018
Career: Law lecturer and academic who became an expert on bankruptcy law and tenured Harvard professor. Ran for Senate and won in 2012, defeating sitting Republican Scott Brown, held it in 2018 60% to 36%. Was short-listed to be Hillary's running mate and campaigned hard for her in 2016
Family: Twice-married mother of two and grandmother of three. First husband and father of her children was her high-school sweetheart. Second husband Bruce Mann is Harvard law professor. Daughter Amelia Tyagi and son Alex Warren have both been involved in her campaigns. Has controversially claimed Native American roots; DNA test suggested she is as little as 1,064th Native American. Would be first female president
Religion: Raised Methodist, now described as Christian with no fixed church
Views on key issues: Voted Republican until 1995 but has tacked left since. Pro: higher taxes on rich; banking regulation; Dream Act path to citizenship for 'dreamers'; abortion and gay rights; campaign finance restrictions; and expansion of public provision of healthcare - although still to spell out exactly how that would happen. Against: U.S. presence in Afghanistan and Syria; liberalization of gambling
Slogan: To be announced
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
Age on Inauguration Day: 68
Entered race: Announced exploratory committee November 15, 2018. Formally entered January 28, 2019
Career: Dropped out of Pomona College, California, became part of the counter culture and anti-war movement and ran a 'metaphysical bookstore' before publishing spiritual guide A Return to Love and being praised by Oprah, sending it to number one. Published series of follow-ups and founded AIDS charity and subsequently more non-profits including a peace movement. Ran for Congress in 2014 and lost
Family: Born to immigration attorney father Sam and housewife mother Sophie in Houston, Texas. Married for 'a minute and a half' to unnamed man; daughter India was born in 1990 but Williamson declines to name her father. Would be first female president
Religion: Jewish
Views on key issues: Wants vast expansion of physical and mental healthcare; and nutrition and lifestyle reforms including ban on marketing processed and sugary foods to children; universal pre-K; much of the Green New Deal's proposals including a de-carbonized economy, electric cars and rebuilding mass transit; gun control through licensing; wants more vacation time; pro decriminalizing all drugs
Slogan: Join the Evolution
ANDREW YANG
Age on Inauguration Day: 46
Entered race: Filed papers November 6, 2018
Career: Started a dotcom flop then become healthcare and education tech executive who set up nonprofit Venture for America
Family: Married father of two. His parents were both immigrants from Taiwan who met at the University of California, Berkeley, as grad students. Would be first Asian-American president
Religion: Reformed Church
Views on key issues: Warns of rise of robots and artificial intelligence, wants $1,000 a month universal basic income and social media regulated. Spoke out against male circumcision
Slogan: Humanity First
Watch: Kamala Harris Shakes Head After Trump Calls for Stopping
Drug Cartels, Human Trafficking
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) shook her head after President Donald
Trump called for putting illegal drug cartels and human traffickers out of
business at his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night.
MOST CALIFORNIANS CAN'T SAY KAMALA
HARRIS WOULD MAKE A GOOD PRESIDENT
"Democracy Dies in California"
The Moral Inconsistency of Progressive Presidential Contender Kamala
Harris
Harris 'Stands
With' DACA Kids/Parents, But No Wall 'Under Any Circumstances'
Matt Perdie/Breitbart News,
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Angel Mom Maureen Maloney, the vice president
of Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime (AVIAC), says Sen. Kamala
Harris (D-CA)’s staff threatened to call Capitol Police when Angel Families
visited her Senate office in Washington, DC, this month.
Willie
Brown: My Extramarital Affair With
Kamala
Harris Benefited Her Politically
https://www.redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2019/01/28/willie-brown-kamala-harris-affair-benefited/
Willie Brown admits it: Kamala Harris slept her way to the top
Willie Brown: So What If I Dated Kamala Harris and Gave Her
State Jobs?
Scott Strazzante / Associated
Press
Former San Francisco mayor and California State Assembly speaker Willie
Brown confirmed Saturday that he had dated Democratic presidential hopeful
Kamala Harris and appointed her to two state jobs — and dismissed the fuss.
Looking to 2020, Kamala Harris Hires
Heavy Hitter Lawyer Involved With Russian Dossier
Watch: Kamala Harris Shakes Head After Trump Calls for Stopping
Drug Cartels, Human Trafficking
5 Feb 20193,046
1:36
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) shook her head after President Donald
Trump called for putting illegal drug cartels and human traffickers out of
business at his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night.
President
Trump had specifically called for the United States to commit to ending illegal
immigration, as well as put coyotes, drug cartels, and human smugglers “out of
business.” While others responded by standing and giving applause, Sen. Kamala
Harris pursed her lips and shook her head in response to the president’s call
to action.
Watch Below:
President Donald Trump calls on Congress to put "the
ruthless coyotes, cartels, drug dealers, and human traffickers out of
business"
Democrats refuse to stand or clap
2020 presidential candidate Kamala Harris shakes her head
in disagreement
“Now,
Republicans and Democrats must join forces again to confront an urgent national
crisis,” said President Trump, “Congress has ten days left to pass a bill that
will fund our government, protect our homeland, and secure are very dangerous
southern border.”
“Now is the
time for Congress to show the world that America is committed to ending illegal
immigration and putting the ruthless coyotes, cartels, drug dealers, and human
traffickers out of business,” continued the president.
Sen. Harris
had recently announced her 2020 presidential bid, which was then followed up
with a call to eliminate private health
insurance, an issue that appears to be Sen. Harris’ more
immediate priority, rather than securing the United States’ border.
MOST CALIFORNIANS CAN'T SAY KAMALA
HARRIS WOULD MAKE A GOOD PRESIDENT
"Democracy Dies in California"
February 6,
2019
"Democracy
Dies in California" is the usual saying for the socialist one-party state
with the most rigged election and single party rule outside Cuba or Venezuela.
And so
that meant Kamala Harris couldn't have lost her Senate race. She barely had to
run.
But
California voters may have passively elected her, but no
one is all that certain that she has what it takes to run the
country into the ground.
On the heels of a high-profile White House campaign launch that
cemented Kamala Harris‘ position as a top-tier 2020 contender, a new poll shows
voters in her home state are divided on whether she would make a good
president.
Forty percent of voters in overwhelmingly Democratic California
say the first-term senator would make a good president, and 38 percent say she
would not, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
That's
quite an endorsement.
A
majority of Californians polled can't even say Harris would make a good
president. And that's in her own state.
The Moral Inconsistency of Progressive Presidential Contender Kamala
Harris
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.)
has already declared herself to be a presidential aspirant in the upcoming 2020
elections, among the dozens of other Democrats who are mulling over whether or
not to run.
Many readers will know that
Harris wants to be a progressive darling of the party, and has gone on record
as being morally opposed to the border wall, comparing Immigration and Customs
Enforcement to the KKK, and expressing her dismay at the separation of alien
parents from their children when they cross the border illegally.
She went so far as to declare
that the Trump administration's actions constitute a "crime
against humanity" — a declaration that grates in the
ears when one thinks of real crimes against humanity, such as the killing fields
of the Khmer Rouge, the Rwandan genocide, the mass murder in Srebrenica, and
even the wanton, murderous barbarity of ISIS in every area which it has held.
But having announced her
candidacy, Harris now finds she is subject to the same kind of close scrutiny
that she is so fond of according others, and her star is perhaps not shining
quite so brightly.
Jim Geraghty at National
Review Online, among others, has discussed a Twitter feed including a video of
Harris discussing a policy she adopted as a chief prosecutor in California
that jailed
the parents of truant children. Yes, that's right, the
parents. (Interestingly, when you click the hotlink inside Geraghty's article
to the Twitter feed showing the video, it now says "Account
suspended." One wonders why. Is Twitter helping Harris squelch the
unexpected and unwanted focus?)
So, to recap: Harris endorsed
a policy of locking up the parents of truant children — many of whom were
undoubtedly difficult-to-manage rebellious teens that neither the parents nor
the school district could manage — but somehow finds no fault in an alien
parent who drags his or her infant or toddler, or eight or 10 year old, 1,700
miles across difficult terrain of jungle and then desert, exposes them to
poisonous insects and reptiles, as well as predatory animals and humans,
including smugglers who are as likely to physically or sexually assault as to
help, just so that the parent has a "get out of jail free" card when
they arrive at and illegally cross the U.S. southern border.
Does anyone else see a
problem with moral consistency and a whiff of hypocrisy here?
Harris 'Stands
With' DACA Kids/Parents, But No Wall 'Under Any Circumstances'
Sen. Kamala
Harris (D-Calif.), a newly minted presidential candidate, participates in a CNN
town hall on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2019. (Photo: Screen capture/CNN)
(CNSNews.com)
- Following a rousing defense of legal status for DACA recipients and their
parents, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) told CNN Monday night that she would not
be willing to give them permanent legal status if it means giving President
Donald Trump money for his border wall.
Jake
Tapper asked Harris, "Would you be willing to vote for some border
security money, wall money, barrier money to give permanent protection to DACA
children, DACA young people like Cecilia? Would you be willing to make that
exchange?"
Let
me be very clear," Harris said.
I'm
not going to vote for a wall under any circumstances, and I do support border
security, and if we want to talk about that, let's do that. And let's talk
about what really accomplishes border security, which is let's upgrade the
technology. Let's look at the fact that the folks who are working on border
security on the ground know that they need upgraded infrastructure, around
things like drones, and they need cameras. So, yes, I'm all for increased
border security where we need it.
I
am not for a wall. And let me just tell you something. So here's the thing. I
have worked on this issue on both sides. I have worked on this issue including
being a prosecutor, who went after transnational criminal organizations. And
let me tell you something. I'm talking about organizations that, for profit,
engaged in the trafficking of guns, drugs, and human beings. That wall ain't
going to stop them. Let's be clear about that.
Let's
be clear about the fact that --let me tell you. I have been to the border. I
have seen the tunnels. I have seen photographs of tunnels that had already been
demolished with walls as smooth as the walls here, tunnels lined with
air-conditioning and lighting because this is the level of sophistication that
is going on with people who are trafficking in guns, drugs, and human beings
for profit.
They're going underground,
through tunnels. They've got boats. They've got drones. They're not jumping
over walls. So the idea that we're going to sell this thing to the American
public and require the taxpayers of our country to pay $5 billion for something
that will not deliver what he is suggesting we need is ridiculous, and I will
not support it.
Moments
earlier, a DACA recipient named Cecilia told Harris she's tired of being used
as a "bargaining chip." She said she's worried about the future of
herself and other DACA recipients, as well as the possible deportation of the
parents who brought them to the U.S. as young children.
"What
solutions do you see to help protect the parents of DACA recipients or those
for which there is no clear path to citizenship?" Cecilia asked Harris.
Harris
used her response to Cecilia to criticize the Trump administration for breaking
a promise made to them "in writing."
(President
Barack Obama's Homeland Security Department -- not Congress -- established
DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, with a memorandum. Yet the
courts have blocked the Trump Administration from overturning Obama's executive
action with an order of its own.)
"I
have had serious concerns about the fact that they are refusing to keep
America's promise to you and everyone who went through that process. And it is
wrong, and it also is contrary to who we said we were," Harris told
Cecilia.
The
senator noted that all DACA recipients have been vetted to see if they are
living a "productive life" and are worthy of deferred deportation:
And
we promised them. And it is in writing. If you give us this information about
who you are, we will not share it with I.C.E., and we will not use that as a
basis for deporting you. We promised you that.
Then
this administration came in and broke that promise. Broke that promise. And so
what we have is bad role modeling, not to mention the fact that we have
hundreds and thousands of young people like you who are presenting us with the
promise of America and have to live in fear every day that you might be
deported because an administration came in and broke America's promise to you.
And it is wrong.
And
on your point about parents, it is wrong, and you are exactly right, for this
administration to then trade the idea that, okay, well, maybe we'll let the
kids stay but not their parents. So yet again we have an example of this
administration willing to separate children from their parents, which is
inhumane and contrary to who we are and the values we hold as Americans.
And so I will say to you that I
stand with you. There are so many who do, and 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.
The
audience applauded enthusiastically, even though Harris never once mentioned
that Congress could solve the problem legislatively.
Exclusive–Angel
Mom: Kamala Harris’ Staff Threatened to Call Capitol Police When Angel Families
Visited Her Office
Angel Mom Maureen Maloney, the vice president
of Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime (AVIAC), says Sen. Kamala
Harris (D-CA)’s staff threatened to call Capitol Police when Angel Families
visited her Senate office in Washington, DC, this month.
Maloney — whose 23 years-old son,
Matthew Denice, was killed in August 2011 by an
illegal alien who ran over him while drunk driving without a license — told
SiriusXM Patriot’s Breitbart
News Tonight that the staff of Democrat 2020 presidential
candidate Sen. Kamala Harris threatened to call Capitol Police when Angel
Families visited the offices of prominent House
and Senate Democrats to discuss illegal alien crime.
Meanwhile, Maloney told Breitbart
News Senior Editors-at-Large Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak that Harris makes
it known that illegal aliens are welcome in her office.
“So we went past her office about
two weeks ago, we were in D.C. to see … Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, and
Kamala Harris, in front of her office, has a big welcome sign in Spanish that
says ‘Dreamers Are Welcome,'” Maloney said.
MANSOUR: Were you welcome?
MALONEY: No, in fact two of the people I was with, they threatened to
call Capitol Police on them if they didn’t leave.
MANSOUR: Kamala Harris’ staff threatened to call the police on you?
MALONEY: Yes.
Listen
to Maloney’s full interview here:
In her 2020 presidential campaign
kickoff speech in Oakland, California, Harris portrayedherself as an advocate for
crime victims and thanked illegal aliens for visiting lawmakers in Washington,
D.C.
You see, in our system of justice,
we believe that harm against any one of us is harm against all of us. That’s
why when we file a case, it’s not filed in the name of the victim. It reads,
“The People.” This is a point I have often explained to console and counsel survivors of crime,
people who faced great harm. Often at the hands of someone they trust – be it a
relative or a bank or a big corporation. I would remind them. You are not
invisible. We all stand together. [Emphasis added]
…
During the health care fight, I saw
parents and children with grave illnesses walk the halls of the United States
Congress, families who had traveled across the country at incredible
sacrifice. They came to our nation’s
capital believing that if their stories were heard, and if they were seen,
their leaders would do the right thing. I saw the same thing with our Dreamers.
They came by the thousands. By plane, train, and
automobile. I’m sure they were sleeping ten-deep on someone’s living room
floor. [Emphasis added]
Maloney said it is illegal aliens
who have the upper hand against their American victims, not only when it comes
to trying to speak with lawmakers, but also in the court system.
“Illegal aliens are treated with
such leniency compared to American citizens. It’s really sickening what
goes on in the courts,” Maloney said.
Harris and other elected Democrat
lawmakers are “absolutely not” working on behalf of illegal alien crime
victims, Maloney said, noting that she and other Angel Families have been
unable to meet with Democrats about the immigration issue for years.
“My senators up here, Sen. Markey
and Sen. Warren, I’ve tried for years to get an appointment to meet with them.
They’re unable to meet with people here in Massachusetts and down in
Washington,” Maloney said. “When I’ve been down in Washington to meet with
Democrat leaders, they’re not available. Members of AVIAC have been trying to
meet with Nancy Pelosi as long as we’ve been in existence and they’ve made public
pleas to meet with her and she won’t meet with any of us.”
“No, I don’t feel that the Democrats
are representing my family at all,” Maloney said.
Breitbart News Tonight broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 weeknights
from 9:00 p.m. to midnight Eastern or 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pacific.
Willie
Brown: My Extramarital Affair With
Kamala
Harris Benefited Her Politically
https://www.redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2019/01/28/willie-brown-kamala-harris-affair-benefited/
Senator Kamala Harris announced last week her intentions to run for
president, and on Sunday she officially kicked off her bid with a rally in Oakland.
While she’ll talk about a wide array of issues on the campaign
trail and how she believes her qualifications make her the best Democrat to
take on President Trump in 2020, one thing the first-time Senator won’t mention
is her past relationship with former San Francisco mayor and California State
Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.
Brown, on the other hand, opened up about their time together
in a short piece posted at the San Francisco Chronicle on
Saturday:
I’ve been peppered with calls from the national media about my
“relationship” with Kamala Harris, particularly since it became obvious that
she was going to run for president. Most of them, I have not returned.
Yes, we
dated. It was more than 20 years ago. Yes, I may have influenced her career by
appointing her to two state commissions when I was Assembly speaker.
Brown went on to talk about other Democrats he’s helped in the
past:
And I
certainly helped with [Harris’s] first race for district attorney in San
Francisco. I have also helped the careers of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Gov.
Gavin Newsom, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and a host of other politicians.
Well, he went there,
so we’ll go there, too.
Brown did indeed date Harris – who is 30 years younger than
him – for a period of time between 1995 and early 1996, and yes – he
“influenced” her career in a big way:
In 1995, she began dating Brown, then Assembly speaker and one
of the most powerful men in California politics. Brown put Harris on the state
Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the California Medical Assistance
Commission, part-time posts that supplemented her prosecutor’s salary with
nearly $100,000 in extra annual pay.
The
December night Brown was elected mayor, Harris joined him at center stage in a
longshoremen’s union hall and gave him a blue cap that said, “Da Mayor.”
One thing not mentioned in most pieces you’ll read on Brown’s
dating relationship with Harris is that Brown was (and is still) married at the
time (and has been since 1958, to Blanche Vitero, though they are have
reportedly been estranged since 1981). And Harris and Brown
remained political allies even after they split up shortly after his 1996
mayoral inauguration, according to the LA Times.
It’s interesting to see Brown downplay their history, as if to
suggest it was no big deal to give his mistress at the time two cushy appointmentsand a 1994 BMW, and
introductions to valuable political players. And his mention of how he also
helped Pelosi, Newsom, and Feinstein was peculiar when you consider that,
unlike Harris, none of them had had an affair with him.
Harris, for what it’s worth, detests when the subject is brought
up, as she made clear in this 2003
interview with SF
Weekly:
She
acknowledges that Brown is an “albatross hanging around my neck” and fears that
voters who dislike him will ignore her candidacy — even as she dismisses such
an act as irrational. “Would it make sense if you are a Martian coming to Earth
that the litmus test for public office is where a candidate is in their
relationship to Willie Brown?” Harris asks. “Willie Brown is not going to be
around. He’s gone — hello people, move on. If there is corruption, it will be
prosecuted. It’s a no-brainer, but let’s please move on.”
Unfortunately for Harris, he’s not gone, and the man widely
regarded as a kingmaker in California Democratic party politics decided to talk
about her least favorite topic on the eve of her first presidential campaign
rally.
Though the affair has long been a well-known fact in
California, it did not hurt her state political ambitions in later years.
However, Harris is now introducing herself to America on a national stage, and
it remains to be seen as to whether Democratic primary voters in other states
will hold her affair with Brown and allegations of cronyism against her.
Willie Brown admits it: Kamala Harris slept her way to the top
Kamala Harris, that vaunted self-righteous
feminist candidate who's using her 'year of the woman' chops to challenge
President Trump in 2020, has a little problem: She slept her way to the top.
You know, the mistress thing, not exactly
moving on up based on hard work or merit, that little advantage of good looks
(President Obama called her the 'best-looking' state attorney general), employed to their optimal
practical use. Her political patron, former
lawyer to pimps, Mayor of San Francisco, and State Assembly Speaker Willie
Brown, admitted he helped her get her political start, writing in his
bloggy San Francisco Chronicle column:
Yes, we
dated. It was more than 20 years ago. Yes, I may have influenced her career by
appointing her to two state commissions when I was Assembly speaker.
And I
certainly helped with her first race for district attorney in San Francisco. I
have also helped the careers of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Gov. Gavin Newsom,
Sen. Dianne Feinstein and a host of other politicians.
Now you know where we get these people
from. Somehow Harris, who was in her late 20s or at
most 30 when she dated the 60-year-old
married Brown around 1994 did so because he was just so very irresistable.
Here's how the San Francisco Chronicle reported it on Twitter:
WILLIE BROWN: "I’ve been peppered with calls from the national media
about my 'relationship' with Kamala Harris, particularly since it became
obvious that she was going to run for president. Yes, we dated."https://t.co/xkzR0YhIl0
That of course, was in exchange for certain
kinds of favors. Her rival, Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren got her start
playing fake Indian. Kamala went the old fashioned way, sleeping her way
to the top. Democrats have some pool of candidates here in this 'it's our turn'
year of the woman and out to Get Trump offerings.
Willie Brown, of course, was California's
most powerful politician, which might have had something to do with why Harris
was out 'dating' the married man twice her age. And it's interesting because
Brown, a former attorney for pimps in his pre-political days, seems to have a
taste for the kind of women often seen in a positive light by pimps, such
as this
one - who represents Brown's taste in women. Not that it
mattered that he was married, he's always had a girlfriend in the picture,
according to the article. And well, Kamala was one of them.
Other reports say that once Kamala got the
office she wanted from Brown, she dumped him. Brown made a cutesy reference to
Kamala saying she was going to ticket him for jaywalking, which sounds like
overkill, probably the kind of statement someone with a guilty conscience would
make, not wanting anyone to know about how she got her office. What's more,
Harris has kept virtually all references to Brown out of her numerous memoirs
on the market.
Some feminist she is. She slept her way to
the top and now it's out. It's actuallynot
the first time it's been out, but since
it's coming out now so early in the campaign, perhaps it was an inoculation
shot, the way that candidate Donald Trump's team must have released the Melania
Trump nude modelling shots to the New York Post to make it 'old news' so as to
assure it would not become a campaign issue the day before the election.
All the same, it's disgusting, and while
Trump is no angel on the love front, at least he never offered sex for
political favors, either to women or from women. He never cheated on someone's
spouse to get himself some political power the way she did. So now that Harris is presented as a role model and
antidote-to-Trump these days, is she going to encourage all the
little girls out there by saying that getting a politically strong
boyfriend is the way to make it big in politics now? One wonders.
Let's hope she has to answer some
questions about it from the Trump camp in what's sure to be
a pious and hectoring political campaign.
Willie Brown: So What If I Dated Kamala Harris and Gave Her
State Jobs?
27 Jan 2019977
2:17
Former San Francisco mayor and California State Assembly speaker Willie
Brown confirmed Saturday that he had dated Democratic presidential hopeful
Kamala Harris and appointed her to two state jobs — and dismissed the fuss.
As Breitbart News reported earlier this month, “Kamala
Harris’s career received a boost from a patronage job in dubious
circumstances.” In particular:
In 1994,
then-outgoing Speaker of the California State Assembly Willie Brown (D-San
Francisco) appointed Harris to a state board with a $72,000 salary. The Los Angeles Times reported: “Harris, a former deputy
district attorney in Alameda County, was described by several people at the
Capitol as Brown’s girlfriend.” (Brown was marriedbut separated.)
The problem was not that Brown was dating Harris, but the
apparent nepotism involved in her appointment.
Brown published a short article in
the San Francisco Chronicle this
weekend, “Sure, I dated Kamala Harris. So what?” In the article, he
acknowledged the facts but not the reasons for the controversy:
Yes, we dated. It was more than 20 years ago. Yes, I may have
influenced her career by appointing her to two state commissions when I was
Assembly speaker.
And I certainly helped with her first race for district attorney
in San Francisco. I have also helped the careers of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and a host of other politicians.
Brown did not — as far as is known — have intimate relationships
with any of the other politicians he named.
He also claimed that Harris told him that she would be
particularly harsh on him once she won election to the office of San Francisco
District Attorney, though it is not clear why that would be relevant to the
questions surrounding her earlier appointments.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior
Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak
Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How
Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from
Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
Looking to 2020, Kamala Harris Hires
Heavy Hitter Lawyer Involved With Russian Dossier
January 22, 2019
Eyebrows
were raised among Democratic officials and activists on Jan. 21 when Sen.
Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) announced her 2020 presidential nomination bid and
listed Marc Elias as her campaign’s general counsel.
Elias,
head of the Perkins Coie LLP law firm’s political law practice, is among the
Democratic Party’s top campaign finance experts and a recognized power-player
at the highest levels.
Described
by a veteran Democratic national campaign consultant as “the best in the
business,” Elias could prove to be both an immensely valuable asset to
Harris—and also a huge problem.
On the
plus side, Elias gives Harris’s presidential campaign one of the most
well-connected operatives in American politics and a significant boost early in
what promises to be a heavily populated, intensely competitive primary field.
Elias
and his firm currently represent every major Democratic Party committee,
including the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign
Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic Governors
Association, as well as numerous individual senators and representatives.
He also
was the chief attorney for former Secretary of State John Kerry’s 2004
presidential campaign against President George W. Bush and for the White House
bid of another former chief U.S. diplomat, Hillary Clinton, in 2016.
Elias
represented former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) in the sharply contested 2008
recount battle, and he has extensive litigation experience in voting rights and
redistricting cases across the country. He also represented former Sen. Bill
Nelson (D-Fla.) in his losing 2018 recount battle.
As a
result, Elias knows everybody who is anybody in Democratic campaigns, including
donors, consultants, good guys to know, and opportunists to avoid at all cost.
Given
the California junior senator’s lack of experience in national politics—barely
two years, as she was first elected to the Senate in 2016—having Elias at hand
will help her avoid costly rookie mistakes in fundraising and opening
influential doors ahead of rivals such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
That
Harris nabbed Elias so early in the 2020 campaign may also send an important
signal to former Vice President Joe Biden, that his path back to the White
House may not be as clear as conventional wisdom suggests.
But
there is a potentially devastating downside that comes with Elias for Harris,
especially in the event she wins her party’s nomination. He’s at the center of
the biggest political scandal in decades, and not in a good way.
It was
Elias who, as the Clinton campaign’s attorney of record, used campaign funds to
retain the infamous opposition research firm Fusion GPS to compile what became
known as the Steele dossier on President Donald Trump, according to the Washington Post.
The
dossier was compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, based in part on
information he gleaned from individuals close to Russian intelligence agencies.
Despite
being, according to then-FBI Director James Comey, a “salacious and unverified”
document, the Steele dossier was used by the Department of Justice and the
bureau to obtain approval for surveillance of Trump’s campaign.
Thus,
Elias has the distinction of being both a major player in the Trump/Russia
scandal and an attorney representing another key figure, Clinton campaign chairman
John Podesta, during his interview with Senate Intelligence Committee staff.
Elias
also brings baggage that could hurt Harris as a result of his firm’s role in
the DNC’s response to being hacked, allegedly by Russian interests. Instead of
asking the FBI to investigate the hack, DNC officials reportedly relied upon a private cyber-security company recommended
by the Elias firm.
Finally,
Elias represented Google and Facebook in their 2011 requests to the Federal
Election Commission for an exemption from a requirement that digital political
ads purchased via the two tech giants include disclaimers revealing who paid
for them.
Google
got the exemption, but Facebook’s request was never decided and the social
media site didn’t include the disclaimers. The case could be significant since
Russian interests bought $100,000 in ads on Facebook during the 2016 campaign.
Elias
told The New York Times the disclaimers wouldn’t have stopped
the Russians, who bought the Facebook ads because “they were willing to break
the law to help Donald Trump.”
Harris,
who is known, as the L.A. Times says, for her “mix of cold
calculation, relentless fundraising and force of personality” and willingness
to do whatever it takes to win, surely knows all of the upsides and downsides
of having Elias on her team.
And the
upsides are what count now in her quest to secure her party’s nomination for
the Oval Office.
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