Kamala Harris slammed rival Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportations of immigrants in the country illegally as a new poll shows more Americans support the proposal.
The 59-year-old vice president was speaking at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 47th Annual Leadership Conference in Washington as she works to secure support from crucial Latino voters in the 2024 election.
‘While we fight to move our nation forward to a brighter future, Donald Trump and his extremist allies will keep trying to pull us backward,’ Harris warned.
She mentioned the family separations during his first administration before slamming the mass deportations.
‘Now they have pledged to carry out the largest deportation, a mass deportation, in American history,’ Harris said.
‘Imagine what that would look like and what that would be?’ Harris said. ‘How’s that going to happen? Massive raids? Massive detention camps? What are they talking about?’
Vice President Kamala Harris slammed Trump’s plan for mass deportations while speaking at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute conference in Washington, DC
Her remarks come as a new poll by Scripps News/Ipsos found more than half of Americans support mass deportations of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
The survey found 54 percent of respondents including 86 percent of Republicans, 58 percent of Independents and 25 percent of Democrats said they ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat’ support wide-scale efforts to deport millions of immigrants.
The poll found while more people view Harris favorably to Trump, when it comes to the issue of immigration, 44 percent said Trump would do a better job while 34 percent said Harris would.
His plan could result in upwards of eleven million immigrants in the country illegally being deported. However, economists warn it could also have devastating consequences for the economy with the removal of works and lead to higher prices.
Speaking on Wednesday, Harris also discussed her own stance on immigration.
‘We must also reform our broken immigration system,’ Harris said to a cheering crowd.
She said the can ‘protect our dreamers and understand we can do both, create an earned pathway to citizenship and ensure our border is secure.’
‘We can do both and we must do both,’ she emphasized.
Her remarks were well received by the audience of largely young Latinos who were in attendance from all over the country.
On the campaign trail, Harris has called for Congress to bring back the bipartisan immigration bill and slams Trump for tanking the deal earlier this year.
Migrants crossing back and forth over the Rio Grande river into the United States and Mexico in March 2023. Immigration has been a central focus in the 2024 election as Trump calls for the mass deportation of immigrants in the country illegally if he’s elected
It comes as Trump has made immigration one of the biggest focal point of his campaign, has demonized immigrants in the U.S. and has slammed Harris for the Biden administration’s work on the issue.
The vice president was met with thunderous applause from the audience upon her entrance, before launching into a speech where she talked about her vision for the U.S. and spoke about some of the key issues in the election including the economy and abortion rights as well as immigration.
‘We have to put the middle class first, we have to put working families first,’ Harris said. She argued the entire country would be better for it.
Harris praised the work of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and leaders in the room for having a ‘real impact on real people.’
‘It’s extraordinary work that is happening because of the leaders here,’ she said.
One woman shouted when the vice president entered ‘I love you.’
Kamala Harris praised the work of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus while speaking at the institute conference in Washington on September 18
Some of the biggest applause lines came when Harris mentioned so-called dreamers, immigrants who were brought to the U.S. without documentation as children but know no other home.
Another major applause line was when she mentioned working to create the National Museum of the American Latino.
She started her remarks by reintroducing herself to the audience, growing up with her single mother, sharing why she became a prosecutor and touting some of the work she accomplished before becoming vice president.
Harris also took time to lay out key components of her economic plan as she campaigns as a candidate for the future.
She specifically brought up her plans for $25,000 down payments for first-time homebuyers, her controversial proposal to tackle rising grocery costs with a ban on price gouging and called for expanding the Child Tax Credit.
Harris took time out of her aggressive campaign schedule to speak at the conference where some 2,000 attendees had gathered from all over the country.
‘For years, I have been proud to fight alongside the members and the leaders of this incredible caucus,’ Harris said.
She delivered the remarks at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center standing before a sign that read ‘CHCI Latino Excellence in Action.’
It comes as the U.S. celebrates Hispanic Heritage month from September 15 to October 15.
Latino voters is a crucial and diverse voting bloc that could help decide the 2024 presidential election including in several key battleground states.
Trump was beating Harris with Hispanic voters in August, but his support has plunged since
Latino voters have long favored Democratic candidates in presidential elections, but Donald Trump has been making inroads with the critical voting bloc in the United States.
However, recent polling by DailyMail.com found Trump’s support among Hispanic voters plunged in August.
The polling conducted by J.L. Partners found Trump’s support went from 44 percent to just 27 percent while Harris has seen her support among Hispanics rise to 45 percent.