Recently unearthed video captured Vice President Kamala Harris chanting for the total abolition of deportations during a 2018 Los Angeles parade.
“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 video first obtained by the Daily Mail. The footage further demonstrates how Harris, once a staunch opponent of basic immigration enforcement policies, has shifted her tone on the issue since becoming the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.
WATCH:
Kamala Harris shouting ‘Down down with deportation!’ at a 2018 parade in Los Angeles pic.twitter.com/jgcAmkeQbe
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) September 23, 2024
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 — shows Harris in the same outfit she wore during the chant, confirming the time and date of the aforementioned clip.
Similar to the video of the crowd chant, convicted hate crime hoaxer Jussie Smollett could also be seen in background during her interview with a reporter.
Harris appeared to take a shot at then-President Donald Trump during the interview.
“It feels great to be in LA, to be in California, to celebrate Dr. King, his vision, his spirit — which is alive and well,” Harris said at the time. “And in the midst of time where there are supposed-leaders who are sowing hate and division, it is really important to remember we, as a country, are so much better than that.”
“And it’s not who we are,” she continued.
Harris’ participation in the 2018 parade chant coincided with her opposition to a number of immigration enforcement policies at that time in her political career. When vying 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.
Immediately 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.
Since President Joe Biden announced he would forgo his quest for re-election, paving the way for Harris to be the Democratic presidential nominee, the vice president has pivoted to the right on a number of issues, particularly immigration. Her campaign has since 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.
During an interview with CNN in August, Harris said she believed there should be “consequence[s]” for those that cross the border illegally. When asked by host Dana Bash to explain her apparent flip-flops on border enforcement and other issues, Harris said her “values had not changed.”
The Harris campaign did not respond to a Daily Caller News Foundation request for comment on the 2018 parade video.
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