From its first moments, the interview was contentious.
On Wednesday, United States Vice President Kamala Harris sat down for an interview with the conservative-leaning community Fox Information, as her marketing campaign makes an attempt to draw voters disenchanted along with her Republican rival, Donald Trump.
However host Bret Baier wasted no time zeroing in on the main focus of their dialogue: immigration.
He confronted her with a Trump marketing campaign commercial and a video of a bereaved mom, testifying to Congress in regards to the demise of her little one, allegedly by the hands of two undocumented immigrants.
Harris, nevertheless, identified that irregular immigration throughout the US-Mexico border was a priority lengthy earlier than she was elected vice chairman in 2021 — together with beneath Trump, a former president.
“I believe, frankly, that advert from the Trump marketing campaign is a little bit little bit of throwing stones whenever you’re dwelling in a glass home,” Harris mentioned in response to the Trump advert. “You’ve obtained to take accountability for what occurred in your administration.”
Immigration a high problem
A ballot final week from the Pew Analysis Middle discovered that voters within the US ranked the financial system as their high problem as they head to the polls on November 5.
However rounding out the highest 5 voter points was immigration, with 41 % of these surveyed calling it “extraordinarily essential” and one other 31 % rating it “essential”.
Immigration has been a outstanding pillar within the platforms of each the Democratic and Republican events, with each side pledging to decrease irregular border crossings.
However the Pew survey discovered that Trump seems to have the sting on the topic, with 54 % of respondents saying he’s finest capable of deal with the nation’s immigration insurance policies.
That is a bonus that Republicans have sought to press, because the presidential race winds to a detailed, with lower than three weeks to go.
Nonetheless, Trump and Harris have remained just about tied in general voter polls nationwide. The ballot aggregator, 270toWin, discovered that Harris has a slight lead, with a median of 49.5 % to Trump’s 47.3 %.
As she seeks to drag additional forward, Harris’s marketing campaign has appealed to middle-ground voters, in addition to Republicans fed up with Trump’s management over the social gathering.
A part of her technique has been to play up endorsements from outstanding Republicans like former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, erstwhile Consultant Liz Cheney, a vocal critic of Trump’s on Capitol Hill.
She has additionally pledged to nominate a Republican to her cupboard if she is elected to the presidency.
Earlier on Wednesday, as an illustration, that technique was on full show in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the place Harris touted the bipartisan nature of her marketing campaign as an antithesis to what she characterised as Trump’s divisiveness.
“I’m joined at the moment by over 100 Republican leaders from throughout Pennsylvania and throughout our nation who’re supporting my candidacy for president of america,” she mentioned to cheers from the group. “And I’m deeply honoured to have their help.”
Heated interview
However her reception was a lot chillier within the Fox Information studio, the place Baier tore into her monitor file on immigration.
His opening query minimize proper to the thrust of his interview: “What number of unlawful immigrants would you estimate your administration has launched into the nation during the last three and a half years?”
The administration of outgoing President Joe Biden, beneath whom Harris serves, has been persistently criticised for overseeing a spike in irregular border crossings.
US Customs and Border Safety, as an illustration, famous a file 2,475,669 “encounters” alongside the US-Mexico border throughout the 2023 fiscal yr, although its most up-to-date statistics have signalled a big decline in crossings.
Nonetheless, Biden has taken measures to limit asylum entry to these crossing the border with out authorisation.
“Bret, let’s simply get to the purpose,” Harris responded, as she and Baier struggled to talk over each other. “The purpose is that we now have a damaged immigration system that must be repaired.”
She blamed Trump for scuttling a bipartisan immigration invoice in January, which might have marked the primary complete reform in that space in many years.
“They need a president of america who just isn’t taking part in political video games with the difficulty however is definitely targeted on fixing it,” Harris mentioned.
She additionally performed up her monitor file because the “former lawyer common of a border state”, prosecuting “trafficking of medicine, weapons and human beings”.
However Baier dogged Harris in regards to the excessive variety of border crossings beneath the Biden administration — and the crimes he alleged had been a consequence.
Research have persistently discovered undocumented immigrants commit fewer violent crimes than US-born residents. However members of the US proper, notably Trump and his working mate JD Vance, have amplified unfounded fears that migrants are a widespread menace to public security.
Baier additionally raised an identical argument. “Jocelyn Nungaray, Rachel Morin, Laken Riley, they’re younger girls who had been brutally assaulted and killed,” Baier mentioned, suggesting immigration coverage was accountable. “Do you owe these households an apology?”
“Let me say, initially, that these had been tragic circumstances. There’s no query about that,” Harris replied. “I can’t think about the ache that the households of these victims have skilled for a loss that ought to not have occurred.”
“Additionally it is true that, if a border safety [bill] had been handed 9 months in the past, it might be 9 months that we might have had extra border brokers on the border.”
Distancing herself from Biden
Baier additionally confronted Harris with the criticism that, if elected, her administration can be a continuation of Biden’s.
He famous that final week on the discuss present The View, Harris indicated she was in lockstep with the outgoing president. When one panellist on The View requested her if she would have finished something in a different way than Biden did, Harris responded: “There’s not a factor that involves thoughts.”
Harris was unequivocal in her response to Baier.
“Let me be very clear. My presidency won’t be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency,” she mentioned. “And like each new president that comes into workplace, I’ll convey my life experiences, my skilled experiences and recent and new concepts. I signify a brand new technology of management.”
The 59-year-old Harris spent a lot of her profession as a prosecutor, earlier than rising up the ranks to develop into San Francisco’s district lawyer in 2002 after which California’s lawyer common in 2011.
Solely in 2017 did she arrive in Washington, DC, to function a US senator, leaving her time period early to develop into vice chairman. Throughout Wednesday’s interview, she sought to show that comparatively brief expertise to her benefit.
“I, for instance, am somebody who has not spent the vast majority of my profession in Washington, DC. I invite concepts, whether or not it’s from the Republicans who’re supporting, who had been simply on stage with me minutes in the past, and the enterprise sector and others who can contribute to the selections that I make,” she mentioned.
Baier himself confronted criticism after the interview. One former Harris aide, Symone Sanders Townsend, denounced his line of questioning on social media afterwards.
“The interviewer wasn’t themselves,” she wrote. “As an alternative he was impolite, deceptive and pulled questions straight out of a proverbial Trump/Vance press launch.”
