For someone that dubbed herself the “border czar,” Vice President Kamala Harris sure has a funny way of showing it.
Since becoming the Democratic nominee for president, Harris has launched advertisements announcing her support for more Border Patrol agents and depicting her as a hardline border-state prosecutor who cracked down on cartels and gangs.
And even during an interview with CNN in August, Harris said she believed there should be “consequence[s]” for those that cross the border illegally.
But is Harris’ supposed tough stance on illegal immigration really just smoke and mirrors?
Let’s flashback to 2018, when Harris apparently thought the complete opposite of what she’s touting these days.
Video obtained by The Daily Mail shows Harris chanting for the total abolition of deportations during a 2018 Los Angeles parade.
Kamala Harris shouting 'Down down with deportation!' at a 2018 parade in Los Angeles pic.twitter.com/jgcAmkeQbe
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) September 23, 2024
“Up, up with education. Down, down with deportation,” the then-California senator chanted alongside a crowd during a January 2018 parade in Los Angeles.
According to the Daily Caller, the unearthed video of the chant took place at the 33rd annual Kingdom Day Parade, which celebrates the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Video footage collected by parade organizers that year — which listed her as a “grand marshall” of the event.
The video also shows convicted hate crime hoaxer Jussie Smollett in background during her interview with a reporter.
Despite what Harris is saying now, here’s the record on Harris and her immigration policies.
When running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, Harris was among the majority of candidates who raised their hands when asked if they supported the decriminalization of illegal border crossings.
Harris had also gone on record calling Trump’s border wall a “un-American” and a “stupid waste of money.”
In 2019, she pledged her support for taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgeries for illegal migrants being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainment.
And upon entering office in 2021, the Biden-Harris administration attempted to enforce a 100-day moratorium on most deportations, but that executive order was ultimately blocked in court.
According to the Daily Caller, the Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the 2018 parade video.