Vice President Kamala Harris pledged during her first presidential campaign to close privately run migrant detention centers “on day one,” but her record on the southern border continues to come under heavy criticism.
The resurfaced video clip shows Senator Harris attending a town hall meeting in Iowa City, Iowa, when she was running for president in 2020.
“I want to know if you can commit to closing down immigrant detention centers if you become president,” one attendee can be heard asking.
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Vice President Kamala Harris with migrants at the southern border, where she has previously pledged to close all privately run immigration detention centers. (Getty Images)
“Absolutely, from day one. From day one,” Harris responded.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign to ask if her position has changed.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) posted the video to his social media feeds.
“When I tell you who she is…believe her,” he wrote.
According to data from U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE), as of July 2024, more than 37,000 migrants were being held in 18 private detention facilities, including just over 10,000 with criminal histories and about 4,600 with active criminal charges.
On Monday, ICE announced several arrests, including the deportation of a Brazilian man wanted on attempted murder charges who was arrested at the southern border in March and released, and a Dominican man arrested at the border in February and released, who was also arrested and charged in Massachusetts with trafficking fentanyl.
President Biden recently touted the decline in illegal border crossings. (Getty Images)
A Guatemalan immigrant has been arrested and charged in Rhode Island with child sexual abuse, who was apprehended at the border and released during the Obama administration, as well as an Ecuadorian “fugitive” charged with rape and kidnapping in Massachusetts.
Trump considers multiple border visits in contrast to far-left Harris
As vice president, Harris was appointed by President Biden to be the “person in charge” of the border to address the issue of illegal immigration from Central America.
Since Harris announced her presidential candidacy, Republicans have criticized the Biden administration’s performance on the border, which has seen record numbers of illegal immigrants released into the United States.
In 2018, Senator Harris likened the Department of Homeland Security to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), questioning former President Trump’s nominee for Director of ICE, Ronald Vitiello, whether he was aware of “perceptions” that ICE was similar to the KKK.
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“Are you aware that there is a perception that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) uses its powers in ways that create fear and intimidation, particularly among immigrants, particularly those from Mexico and Central America?” she asked.
In a 2018 interview with MSNBC, Harris said she had a lot of problems with ICE and the way it “operates.”
“I think there’s no question that we need to critically reexamine ICE and its role, how it’s managed and what it does,” she said, “and maybe we need to think about starting from scratch.”
