Newly minted senator-elect from California tears into Trump.
Senator-elect Kamala Harris said, on Thursday, that she will fight for the rights of immigrants in her role as California’s US senator, while criticizing president-elect Donald Trump’s proposed policies against immigrants.
Terming Trump’s policies absolutely unrealistic, Harris promised to protect the interests of immigrants both legal and illegal, reported the Los Angeles Times.
“Today we are rededicating ourselves to fighting for the best of who we are. And there are a lot of people, as a result of this election, that are feeling dispirited at best. Part of what we have to say is that you are not alone, you matter and we’ve got your back,” Harris said during her first public appearance after winning the election.
Harris said that she has started talks with her future Democratic colleagues about “banding together” to protect the rights of immigrants. She wanted to continue the policies of Obama administration in protecting immigrant children and their parents from deportation. The promises came in the wake of proposed policies put forward by Trump such as revoking Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals that protects the immigrant children who were brought to the US illegally. However, some of the actions taken by the Obama administration to protect immigrants have been suspended by the courts.
“This issue of how we are treating our immigrants, and in particular our undocumented immigrants, is one of the most critical issues facing our country,” Harris said. “We are not going to be achieving who we say we are as a country if we attack our community members, our neighbors, our friends and our colleagues.”
Immigrants and immigrant rights activists at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles were invited to attend the event. Immigrants from several countries shared their experiences worries about the future at the event.
Harris said that Democrats must work together for working class, women, and LGBT community.
“I intend to fight for a state that has the largest number of immigrants, both documented and undocumented. We must bring them justice and dignity and fairness through comprehensive immigration reform. I intend to fight for Black Lives Matter and to ensure truth, transparency, and trust in our criminal justice system. I intend to fight for a woman’s access to healthcare and reproductive rights,” Harris said in a blog post.